3f /iS?» 5 && Ids > >^5> UBBGm 3U > 33 sar« 05 ■ > J 3J»3> mm HI w. -? HlHi LlBRARY-QF fMlJfl IGLADYS^DAVIDSONd ;^\VC m& ^^i TRAVELS THE MORE A. VOL. I. G. WOODFALL, angel court, skinner street, London. » - TRAVELS THE MOREA. A MAP AND PLANS. WILLIAM MARTIN LEAKE, F.R.S. ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDCCCXXX. PREFACE. The very limited success of the principal works descriptive of Greece, which have lately been published, shew how difficult it is to render travels in that country agreeable to the general reader, and may serve in part to explain the long delay which has occurred in the publica- tion of the present volumes. The new condi- tion of the Peloponnesus will equally account for their being now submitted to the public. Greece, in fact, abstracted from its ancient his- tory, has, until very recently, been no more than the thinly peopled province of a semi-barbarous empire, presenting the usual results of Ottoman bigotry and despotism, relieved only by the oc- casional resistance of particular districts to their rapacious governors, or of armed bandits to the established authority. It was almost entirely by connexion with ancient history that Greece, or its inhabitants, or even its natural produc- tions, could long detain the traveller by furnish- VI PREFACE. ing matter of interest to his inquiries, whence arises a continual reference to the Greek and Roman authors, and a frequent necessity for citing even their words, which gives to travels in Greece a learned aspect, by no means calculated to obtain for them that success which is indi- cated by an extensive circulation, more especially as the demand for such works on the continent of Europe is speedily supplied by translations, published at a much smaller expense than is possible in England. When the journeys were undertaken, of which the following pages contain a diary, the Pelo- ponnesus had been very little explored, and no description of it £iad been made public, except those by Wheler and Chandler, of some small portions adjacent to the sea coast. The real topography of the interior was unknown, and the map of ancient Greece was formed only by inference from its historians and geographers, although, having been densely populated, divided into numerous small states, and in a high state of improvement in the arts of peace and war, it is, above all others, the country which particularly requires a minute geographical examination for the elucidation of its literature, or, in other words, a map upon a large scale, formed from actual surveys. The delineation of the Pelopon- nesus, which accompanies the present volumes, is PREFACE. Vll very far from attaining these requisites : ne- vertheless, it is the result of more than fifteen hundred measurements with the sextant and theodolite, made from every important geo- daesic station, which circumstances would admit of my employing, corrected or confirmed by a few good observations of latitude. The coast line has been adopted from the nautical sur- veys executed under the orders of the Admi- ralty by Captains Smyth and Copeland, of the Royal Navy, as far as their surveys extended. The unsurveyed coast, which comprehends the entire Argolic Gulf northward of Cape Ieraka, together with the Straits of Petza and Ydhra, will undoubtedly require considerable correction. The reader will not be long in discovering, that the critical remarks on ancient history or geography which occur in the following pages, are not taken from the Author's manuscript journal exactly in the form in which they are now submitted to the public. The itinerary itself has received only such emendations as a compressed diary requires, to be intelligible ; but the commentaries just alluded to, although their basis was laid in the form of notes in the journeys described, and by confronting the text of the ancient authors with the actual locality to which they relate, have been amplified and brought Vlll PREFACE. into their present form at the Author's leisure. In defence of the frequent occurrence of trans- ri extracts it may be remarked, that in ge- neral such extracts afford the most perspicuous and even the shortest moie of resolving: the questions which arise out of the authority cited : and that of the two authors most frequently quoted, namely. Stnbo and Pausanias, there no translation in the English language of the former, and of the latter only one, which scarcely des :he name. Although the description of the ancient cities of Peloponnesus, which I have extracted in an abridged form from Pausanias, relate in some instances to places, of which not a vestige now remains to illustrate the Greek topographer, I have never: . - introduced them all, because, by the addition of a few pages, the present work b :hus rendered more complete, and because the reader is thus enabled to compare every part of Peloponnesus as Pausanias found it, with the view which it presented to the fol- lower of his steps, arter an interval of sixteen centuries. I am, moreover, much inclined to believe, that the descriptions which the ancient traveller has given of the cities of Greece — of their distribution, mode of decoration, monu- ments, and productions of art, would, if better known, be useful to the cultivators of the PREFACE. IX fine arts in general ; that they might have a ten- dency to assist the public discrimination on these subjects ; and that they are particularly worthy of the attention of those upon whom depends the erection of monuments and public works of every kind, in regard to which few persons will be so hardy as to assert, that the good taste of this nation has kept pace with its wealth and expenditure. Every person who has frequent occasion to write the proper names of a foreign language, which lias a written character different from his own, finds the necessity of attempting some uniform mode of representing the foreign sounds. To effect this object completely or consistently, is very difficult. The surest method is to write every name in both characters, by which the reader is furnished with the means of correction, and is quickly habituated to the author's method. Although I have been guided by this principle in the following Work, I have not thought it necessary on all occasions to write the modern name in Greek characters, because the resem- blance between the Greek alphabet and our own, arising from the original affinity of Hel- lenic and Latin, is so great, that all the modern Greek vowel sounds may be correctly repre- sented by the corresponding Italian vowels ; X PREFACE. the diphthongs in modern Greek being all either resolved into simple vowel sounds, or into syl- lables : thus, e and at have both the sound of the Italian e, — and 77, c, et, ot, vl, have all the sound of the Italian i, — av is av, and ev, ef in Italian. By this mode, therefore, of representing the vowel sounds, by employing a few particular forms to express the sounds of some of the con- sonants which are either peculiar to Greek, or are pronounced differently from their corre- sponding letters in the other alphabets of Europe, and by noting the accent where it is necessary, modern Greek words may be written in the Roman character so as to render their correct pronunciation easy to any person ignorant of the Greek alphabet. The anomalous consonant sounds I have represented as follows. B by V 9 such being invariably its sound in modern Greek. r by Gh ; but as the guttural sound of 7 is much more remarkable before the slender than the hard vowels, I have confined the use of the gh to the former. A, which is sounded by the Greeks like our th in thus, by dh. ©, which is our th in think, by th. As K after r or N has the sound of G; U. after M that of B ; and T after N that of Z), I have represented them accordingly. In many names of non-Hel- lenic origin, there occurs a sound which seems, like many other corruptions of language, to have PREFACE. XL been introduced about the same period of time into Greece and Italy ; it is that of the English ch, or Italian c before the slender vowels, equivalent to the English ch, and Ger- man tsck. It is represented in modern Greek by Tz, a combination of letters unknown to the ancients. I have expressed the sound by Tj; but as it is rather a foreign innovation than congenial to the Greek tongue, I have only indi- cated it in the names where it is particularly remarkable, and have generally represented T£ by Tz, which in truth is the politer utterance of that combination even in words or forms, which have evidently been borrowed from the Slavonic, as for instance in the xalSevrt/ca, or diminutive terminations in crty, tr^a. In like manner aa or a before i is very commonly pro- nounced, especially in names of places, like sh in English, but this also appears to be a rustic rather than the true pronunciation, for which reason I have not thought necessary often to notice it in writing the modern Greek names in our own characters. As accent is an important guide in reading foreign languages, without which no stranger, however familiar he may be with the ele- ments of a language, can know whether he is right in the utterance of words of two syllables and upwards, I have placed the ac- Xll PREFACE. cent on all modern Greek words, written in the Roman character, which require that dis- tinction, omitting it when not required, on the ground that all unnecessary distinctions in typo- graphy tend only to multiply errors. Thus I have not accented monosyllables, nor even dis- syllables, unless when the accent is on the last syllable; and I have always used the Greek acute, because, although modern orthography employs all the three ancient accents, it makes no distinction in their power. The choice of difficulties which presents itself in every endeavour to represent the names of one language, by means of the alphabet of another, is particularly shewn by the example of the Ro- mans, who, notwithstanding the connexion of their language with the Greek, seem never to have established any unvarying rule for rendering Greek names into Latin. Under these circum- stances it may be permitted to a writer in any of the modern European languages, to adopt some uniform method for his guidance, even though he should occasionally employ a form not found in the Latin authors ; provided always that it can be done without materially deviating from their practice ; for it is obvious that the Latin method of writing Greek names is the most proper for all nations using the Latin alphabet, and that to attempt any systematic change in the me- PREFACE. Xlll thod of the Romans, would be an useless pe- dantry, and a defiance of established custom, leading to endless inconsistencies, as some re- cent examples demonstrate. I have thought it better to yield to custom in regard to the most common words, such as Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Athenian, Argive, Spartan, Alex- ander, Philip, but have adhered to the Latin ter- minations in the subordinate places, or terri- torial divisions, or gentile adjectives, as in the instance of Tegeatae, Phigalenses, Cynurii, Sciritae. In general I have reduced the Greek termination to the corresponding Latin letters, without inquiring whether that exact form is to be found in the Latin authors, who un- doubtedly were, like ourselves, generally guided in this respect by the ear. The representation of the diphthong et by ei, seems to be an im- provement upon the common practice of the Romans, and is now so often adopted by Eng- lish writers as hardly to need any apology. It should be observed, however, that no great pre- cision on this point is attainable, et and i having been used indifferently in the later ages of Greece, not only in a great number of Greek proper names, but even in other words. The termination ov neuter I have rendered by urn, os masculine or feminine by us, os neuter by os, o) always by o. XIV PREFACE. The Italic print, by which ancient names are occasionally distinguished in these volumes, has been employed for the purpose of obviating the ambiguity which might sometimes arise without such a distinction, when ancient and modern names are blended together in the same passage. It is intended only to remind the reader at a glance, that the name in Italics is no longer in use, and that it belongs only to the ancient geography of Greece. CONTENTS VOL. I. CHAPTER I. ELEIA. Page Gastuni. — Elis. — Modern agriculture of the Eleia. — From Gastuni to Pyrgo. — Oxympia. — Pyrgo 1 CHAPTER II. TRIPHYLIA. From Pyrgo to Arkadhia. — Ancient geography of the maritime part of Triphylia. — District of Arkadhia 49 CHAPTER III. MESSENIA ARCADIA. From Arkadhia to Londari, and Tripolitza. — Tegea. — Mantineia.— Pallantium 76 CHAPTER IV. ARCADIA LACONIA. From Tripolitza to Mistra. — AmycljE, Menelaium, Sparta 120 CHAPTER V. LACONIA. Sparta. — Therapne. — Bryse>e 150 XVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI LACONIA. Page From Mistra to Monemvasia. — Epidaurus Limera. — Epidei,ium. — Return to Elos. — Ancient Geography. —From Elos to Marathonisi 18D CHAPTER VII. LACONIA. Marathonisi. — Gythium. — Mavrovuni. — Passava. — Las. — Chorography of Mani and Bardhunia. — From Marathonisi to Skutari. — Hypsi. — Rivers Smenus and Scyras. — Pyrrhichus. — Teuthrone. — From Skutari to Tzimova 234 CHAPTER VIII. LACONIA. From Tzimova to Cape Matapan. — Messa. — Cenepo- lis. — The Promontories of T^enarum . and Thyri- des. — Psamathus. — Return to Tzimova. — From Tzi- mova to Kalamata. — (Etylus. — Thalam^e. — Peph- nus. — Leuctra. — Cardamyle. — Gerenia. — Abia. -— Phar/e 284 CHAPTER IX. MESSENIA. Kalamata. — PHARiE. — Produce of the District of Kala- mata. — Management of the Silkworm. — From Kala- mata to Andrussa. — Thuria, Calami, Limn/e. — Andrussa. — Mavromati. — Messene. — Ancient Topo- graphy of the adjacent country. — Andania, Carna- sium. — Rivers Pamisus, Aris, Balyra, Leucasia, Amphitus, Charadrus, Electra, Co- Xoj)5* \(p' a Etpv^a. ttoXk; stt* t»? b^U X.tlfjt,t)lY) T1) E7T* toxKcCTTCtV i)T0i 7) ccvrri ovcrcc TT Botvwa. r> vr'Xrio'ioii Exeinif, diE%pvjk K.) oI1*)veio; ludidutn would correctly follow; the received text, on the con> trary, is quite untrue, for there is not any river joining the sea between Chelonatas and Cyllene, two places, in fact, very near to each other. I should propose also, instead of x«i o EeXAjjei?, to read b x«* ZsMijEK : for I conceive Stra- bo to have intended to say, that the Peneius was the same river as the Selleeis of the poet. He appears to have imagined that Ephyra stood at or near a place called Bcenoa or QEnoe, which must have been very near the mouth of the river, if the number of stades in the text (120) is accurate, the mouth of the Peneius being hardly so much from Elis. But, as I have already remarked, it is more probable that Ephyra was the same place as Elis itself. 8 ELIS. £CHAl\ I. Trojan armament. Notwithstanding the care of Oxylus, Elis appears, in consequence of the peculiar government and manners of the peo- ple, to have again declined, until after the Olympiad of Coroebus, b. c. 776, when the Eleians having wrested from the Pisatse the pos- session of the Hierum of Jupiter Olympius, and having obtained the management of the quadrennial festival and contest, with all the power and influence annexed to that sacred charge, the city increased rapidly in importance. Herodotus informs us, that the Eleians sent an embassy to Psammis, king of Egypt, who lived about the year 600 b. c. Some of the earliest extant coins with the legend FAAEION may be still more ancient ; at least, they show the riches of Elis, as well as its connexion with Olympia, at a very early period. The brazen tablet, now in the British Museum, which re- cords a treaty of alliance between the FAAEIOI and ETFAOIOI, may also be ascribed to the seventh century 3 . Gastuni is supplied with water for drinking a Inscriptions of this re- dialect. One can hardly sup- mote antiquity are the more pose APXOI AEKATOI to have difficult to explain, as they had any other meaning than are not only always dialectic, !«■* oc^xv $ix.aTu, Elis, per- but often in forms to which haps, having been governed we find nothing similar in by decennial archons, as later inscriptions in the same Athens was about the same CHAT. I.] GASTUNI. 9 from the Peneius ; it is clear and good even in this season of rain, and my host, the Doctor, assures me that it is wholesome. The district, The following passage in the tablet, — period. 'A^o* is the word applied to the Eleian leaders by Homer. AI AE MA EYNEAN TAAANTON K'APrYPO AFIOTINOIAN TOI AI OAYMniOl TOI KAAAAEMENOI AATPEIOMENON is thus translated by Mr. Knight, " but if they do not so assist, let those who, by failing, may have violated the treaty, pay a talent of silver to Jupiter Olympius for sa- cred services." May it not rather be thus translated : " But if they do not so as- sist, let them pay a talent of silver to Jupiter Olympius, as men who have violated a thing sanctified"? Kocrct^Xn- (jt.ii/ot hotr^eto^mov will then re- semble the YM^iXOV i«Xa§4d«K. g ET£Ef/,a. 14 GASTUNI. [CHAP. I. ties % gain head, and choke b the corn. The other plagues are a black winged insect called Vromusa c , from its bad smell, and rain in May, which injures the blossom. Harvest begins about June 10th, in the plain, in the hills it does not finish generally till July 20th, or beginning of August, new style. The grain is trodden out on the threshing floor d by horses, when the Mukatasi takes his tithe. Good land produces ten, and sometimes thirteen to one. The corn of Gastuni weighs about twenty- six okes, the kilo of Constantinople. The kalambokkia of both kinds may be either dry e , or irrigated by art f ; the first mode pro- duces the better grain, the latter the more plen- tiful crop. Both require the best land. After three or four ploughings in the spring, the seed is ploughed in about the end of April, in the proportion of one vatzeli to sixteen stremata. The land is then levelled with an instrument called the o-£ugvoi s . This svarna is a piece of wood six feet long and one foot thick, which is fixed to the plough h after the share ' is taken off, and is driven about the field while the la- a ExoTua^^ot. Ill Other c Bgopovacc. A 'AXuim. places called o-xoXvpog Or ia- e Sipiy.oc. f ItoTKrnx*. w'Xw^oj, (the awftupoj Of I Effa^sTa. Dioscorides). b 'Axovvtyovv, h Zvyot;. ' 'Afo-r^o CHAP. I.] GASTUNI. 15 bourer stands upon it ; it breaks the clods, and levels the ground. A very dry summer is in- jurious to the dry, and a very rainy August to both kinds of kalambokki. The harvest begins in the middle "of September. The return of maize is thirty or forty to one. The stalk makes excellent fodder for cattle. The small kalam- bokki is used chiefly for feeding fowls ; and the quantity raised is not very great. For cotton the best land is chosen, and that which can be easily irrigated. The seed is soaked in water two or three days, and then mixed and rubbed together with earth, that the grains may not cohere, but may be well scat- tered in sowing. The seed time is the same as that of kalambokki, namely, the end of April, or beginning of May a , the proportion of seed, half a vatzeli to a strema : the seed is ploughed in, and the land levelled with the svarna ; the harvest is in the beginning of Sep- tember. In the lands of Gastuni the Greek metayer is at all the expenses, and receives two-thirds of the produce after the Mukatasi has taken a seventh for his dhekatia. A flock of sheep b consists of 500, two-thirds of which are ewes : it is attended by three men a Toy "AT^Xo-Mai'oi'. b 'Eva. nowa^i. 16 GASTUNI. [CHAP. I. and a boy, and four or five dogs. Nothing is paid for pasture except one asper and a half a head to the Spahi of the village to which the pasture belongs. The tax to government a is now one asper and a half a head per annum ; besides a para a head on the fleece b . Neither sheep nor goats are ever fed : the pasture is changed three or four times in the summer. The profits of a flock are derived from the lambs, the wethers, the milk, the fleece, and the skin. Four rams are sufficient for one hundred ewes. In warm situations near the sea, they are put together about July 20th c , that the lambs may be dropt about December 20th. In colder places the rams are not admitted till August 6th c , that the ewes may lamb about Ja- nuary 6th. In two months the lambs are wean- ed, but for another month they are allowed to suck a little after the ewes are milked. A lamb that has been fed entirely upon milk for three months, will sell at Easter, when the great con- sumption of lambs takes place, for four, five or six piastres. In March the ewes are separated, a To fiotc-iXmuv tiojj.icrr^Qv. sterling. b Three aspers \jlo-z%o.~] c These days are named, make a para [Va§a$], forty because they are Greek feasts ; paras a piastre [jypoo-t]], 500 the former is St. Elias, the piastres a purse Qwot-Vy^. The latter the Metamorphosis or piastre in the year 1805 was Transfiguration, equal to about fifteen pence CHAP. I.] GASTUNI. 17 and for the three following months are milked twice a-day, then once a-day for a month, and in July once in two or three days. A good ewe gives at every milking a pound 3 of milk, of which are made butter", cheese c ,misithra d , and yaourt 6 . For butter the milk is left twenty- four hours to become sour, when it is beaten in a narrow cask with a stick until the butter swims at the top ; the butter-milk is then mixed with an equal quantity of milk, and forms the tyrogalo f , or milk for making cheese. Salted rennet is thrown into it when warmed. As soon as it is coagulated, it is beaten up until it resembles milk again, after which the cheese is allowed to separate, is then put into a form of cloth, or wood, or rushes, and squeezed dry by the hand. The remaining liquid is called nero- galo s , milk-w T ater. To make misithra. The nerogalo after the cheese has been extracted is placed upon the fire ; about a tenth of milk is added to it, and after a short boiling the misithra is collected on the surface. Goat's milk makes the best misi- thra, even though the butter has been extracted from it. Yaourt, which seems to be a Tartar invention introduced into Greece by the Turks, is made a Ait§«. b Bovrvpov. c Tf£<. d Mkxv^oc.. e YieeyovgTi. f TvpoyocXov. & NapoyaXov, or yatKo ve^ov. VOL. I. C 18 GASTUNI. [CHAP. I. from the best milk of sheep or goats. To make the Tryirvci, or coagulum — take some leaven of bread, that is to say, flour and water turned sour, and squeeze a lemon upon it, dissolve it in boil- ing milk, and keep it twenty-four hours. To make the yaourt — boil some new milk till it foams, stirring it frequently, leave it till it is cool enough for the finger to bear the heat ; then throw in the pitya, of which a Turkish coffee- cup full a is sufficient to make several quarts of yaourt. Then cover it that it may not cool too fast, and in three hours it is fit for use. On all future occasions a cup of the old yaourt is the best pitya for the new. The sheep-shearing takes place from April 20th to May 10th ; no washing or preparation of any kind is thought necessary ; it is perform- ed with scissars. The ewes give about three, the males four pounds of wool, which now sells for about ten paras the pound. About three-fourths of the wool produced in the dis- trict is exported, the remainder is wrought at home into coarse cloaks b , or into carpeting, or the furniture of beds and sofas c . An ewe's or wether's skin, unshorn, is worth thirty or thirty- five paras ; a ram's, forty or forty-five paras ; a lamb's, ten. The curriers purchase them, CHAP. I.J GASTUNI. 19 make some into leather at Gastuni, and send the rest to the islands. The flocks suffer occasionally from wolves and jackalls. The principal disease of the sheep is called the evloghia or plague a ; it carries off great numbers, but seldom occurs oftener than once in five or six years, and is not peculiar to any season. They have a practice of inocu- lating for this distemper, by taking a small quantity of matter 5 from an ulcer of the dis- eased sheep c , and rubbing the ear of the still healthy sheep with it ; it is confessed, however, that little benefit is derived from this process. If the evloghia carries off half the dxzvrgooroc, or uninoculated, perhaps sixty per cent, of the inoculated d may live. Another disorder is called kholianitza e , which is supposed to proceed from unwholesome food. The vidhela f is as- cribed to feeding in marshy places in August and September, when it is imagined that an in- sect g from the plant finds its way to the sheep's liver. From the middle of June till the autumn the sheep feed only in the night, and require water once a day. There are supposed to be about 300,000 sheep and goats in the Vilayeti of a EvXoyiu. e XoXiaVr^a, from %o?ua, b Ma^T^o, marcia. gall. c Tov @7\oyKx,ai/,li/ov x^oQolrov. f BiSiXcc. S Zuv(pi. c 2 20 GASTUNI. [CHAP. I. Gastuni, besides which, 150,000 come from the mountainous parts of the neighbouring districts in the winter. These pay two aspers a-head to the Spain, instead of one and a half. The pro- portion of goats to sheep is about a fourth. The uncultivated land a serves for the pasture of cattle as well as sheep ; the first year the calf is called ^o^cc^/, the second wuXeopcxrxty the third tictpahi, afterwards (3ot$i. The herds of Gastuni supply Zakytho and the other islands with beef in considerable quantities. In the Morea, beef is little used j and they would rather give fifteen paras an oke for goats flesh, or eighteen for mutton, than ten for beef. But there is a constant demand in the Morea for cattle for the plough, both oxen and buffalos, A good pair of oxen costs one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty piastres ; a bull about thirty-five ; a cow sixteen to twenty. When natural fodder is scarce, oxen are fed with wh eaten straw, with the rovi b , or with vetches and tares c , which are sown for the pur- pose and plucked up by the roots ; but poverty and oppression prevent the proprietor of oxen from cultivating this useful provision for his cattle, and in summer they are almost starved. Like the sheep, the ox is occasionally subject to a peculiar epidemical disorder d . On these 3 *H xh ao!; - b P°*°h orobllS. c ' AyfiOKOVKh. d Bo/j, or Et^eu*). c : a Mr. Cockerell has since thelength,breadth,andheight discovered sufficient traces of mentioned by Pausanias are the peristyle., cella, and opis- correct. The length and thodomus, to enable him to breadth are, indeed, rather prove, not only that the tern- less than Pausanias has given; pie was a hexastyle, but that but this may be accounted for it faced the east ; and that by the supposition that Pau- 28 OLYMPIA. [CHAP. I. In front of these remains, proceeding to- wards the Alpheius, I find a fourth mass of brick ruin, and nearly in the opposite direction a fifth, which is the best preserved of these fragments. It stands on the edge of a bank where the upper level, on which stood the tem- ple of Jupiter, falls suddenly into a lower level, extending to the river; the ruined wall supports the bank, and makes it more abrupt in that part; there are some remains of arches and chambers in this ruin. The similarity of workmanship in these remains and those of EUs, seems to shew, that in this province the kind of masonry which may properly be termed Hellenic, was not so much in use as in other parts of Greece; proba- bly in consequence of stone not being so plen- tiful, or of its being of a very perishable con- sistency. The small bank which I have just noticed, and which is not so much as twenty feet high in any part, is one of the most remarkable fea- tures in the topography of Olympia ; it is the boundary of two separate levels in the vale of Olympia, and forms an irregular curve round the lower level, beginning westward from the bank of the Alpheius, below the temple of Jupi- ter, and terminating eastward at the pass already sanias took his measurement, but on an exterior foundation, not on the upper stylobate, CHAP. I.] OLYMPIA. 29 mentioned, which leads to Miraka. Though this bank is undoubtedly natural, it appears to have been in many places supported by art, and 1 suspect that it formed one of the boundaries of the Altis, of which the western limit was the Cladeus, as Xenophon distinctly indicates 3 , and as may be inferred from Pausanias b , who places on the west side of the Cladeus the sepulchre of the Arcadians who fell at the battle in the Altis, as well as a ruined building called the stable of CEnomaus, and the sepulchre of CEno- maus, which, according to Pindar c , was near the Alpheius d . Thus it appears that the tem- ple of Jupiter stood in a central position on the upper level, nearly equidistant from the bank, from Mount Cronium, and from the Cladeus ; the latter flows in a hollow bed, the depth of which is about equal to the height of the pave- ment of the temple of Jupiter above the lower level, or that of the Alpheius itself. One can hardly doubt that all the buildings of Olympia stood upon this upper level for the sake of se- curity from the inundations, to which the lower plain must have been continually subject. The upper level is smooth, and covered with a fine turf for a considerable distance to the eastward a . . . . =-; t:-: KXo&mi -:- b Paus. 1. vi. c. '20.. 21. TMfMVj S.- retfa r*i "AAth x.x- c Pi n( J. Olvmp. i. v.148. retffe* .".As*. d ' ^> Xenoph. Hellen. 1. vii. c 4. 30 OLYMPIA. [CHAP. I. of the temple; its continuation to the westward of the Cladeus is more rugged, and is overgrown with bushes. The hills which close the Pisaean valley on the south are much higher than the range of Cronium, and rise almost immediately from the river's bank. Above them in front, bearing nearly south, is seen a peaked mountain near the modern village Smerna ; and to its left, at about half the distance, appears a bare summit, the slope of which, in the direction of Olympia, terminates in one part in a lofty precipitous rock, distant about a quarter of a mile from the river ; this precipice corresponds exactly to the Mount Typaeum of Pausanias, which was held out as an object of terror to prevent any women from attending the games, and those dwelling on the south side of the Alpheius from even crossing the river on forbidden days, it being a law, which however was never executed, that females so transgressing should be precipitated from the rock Typaeum. The Cladeus, on reaching within a few yards of the Alpheius, to the south-west of the temple of Jupiter, instead of joining that river, turns off to the west, form- ing a large peninsula, bordered on the opposite side by the Alpheius. Nearly opposite to the mouth of the Cladeus, but divided from it by islands, a small stream joins the Alpheius on CHAP. I.] OLYMPIA. 31 the left bank, flowing from a valley in which the village of Rasa is situated. This rivulet seems to be the ancient Selinus, and the vale that of Scillus. Eastward of the height which closes the plain of Olympia, there is another valley of the same kind, inclosed by wooded hills, and watered by a rivulet, probably the an- cient Harpinnates, above the left bank of which, nearly a mile distant from the Alpheius, stands the little village of Miraka. The position of Olympia is now called Andi- lalo \ It might be supposed that this word, meaning in modern Greek echo, was derived from some remarkable reverberation of sound caused by the ancient buildings, when their ruins were more considerable than they are at present, especially when we connect this sup- position with the fact mentioned by Pausanias, that the Stoa Pcecile was remarkable for repeat- ing an echo seven or eight times b . I am per- suaded, however, that the word means nothing more than " opposite to Lalla," the change of termination and accent being such as is com- mon in modern Greek compound words, as in the instance of -raXa/o^avot^o, paleo-fanaro, in a single word, for ncikcuov , he relates that the Eleians drove the enemy as far as the ground which lay between the council-house 5 , the sanctuary a Analyse des Cartes de la Anacharsis, Vol. I. p. 6. Grece, Voyage du Jeune b BovKwrripov. VOL. I. D 34> OLYMPIA. [CHAP. I. of Vesta a , and the adjoining theatre b , and even as far as the altar c , meaning probably the great altar of Jupiter, which was in front of the temple of Jupiter and Juno, but nearer to the latter d : but that the Eleians being assailed from the stose and council-house, and the great temple, retreated with the loss of their leader. Now Pausanias, in making mention of the same buildings, (the sanctuary of Vesta he describes as a part of the Prytaneium,) says not a word of a theatre, which, even if it had been but of small dimensions, must have been a very im- portant object in such a confined place as the Altis. Either there is some very extraordinary omission in Pausanias, or fourgov has been sub- stituted for some other word in our copies of Xenophon. Like some other Hiera in Greece at which athletic contests were celebrated, Olympia con- sisted only of a sacred grove, a stadium, and a hippodrome, but it was on a larger scale than any similar establishment. The "AAir^, which most resembled it, were those of Nemea and the a « , , \ the north side of the temple ** EaTJa? upos. , . • i . b K«l rot B-pis t*St* k P o*- of Jupiter, in a line with its wovTo; Qsktpov. Dac k front, and the great al- c ripo? tov fiufjiov. tar stood in front of the Pe- d Pausan. Eliac. prior, c. lopium and temple of Juno, 13. The Pclojriuin was near equidistant from both. CHAP. I.] OLYMPIA. 35 Isthmus. The Altis a appears, from Pausanias, to have been surrounded with a wall, and to have had at least four entrances: 1. That used for all sacred processions, hence called the Pompic b . 2. That which led to the embolus, or starting place of the hippodrome . 3. A third, which is described only as being beyond or over against the gymnasium d , and near the Prytaneium e . 4. A fourth entrance of the Al- tis led to the Stadium f . But there was also an entrance into the Stadium called the Secret s , as being used only by the Hellanodicae and Agonistse. The way to it was from the Me- troum, by the foot of Mount Cronium h ; and hence also it would seem to follow, that there must have been a fifth entrance into the Altis near the Metroum. The temples within the Altis were, 1. The temple of Jupiter, which contained the cele- a "ax™?, an old Pelopon- bo, p. 412. nesian form of "AXao;. — To b 'h Ho^km. Pausan. place their temples in groves Eliac. prior, c. 15. was one of those earliest cus- c Id. ibid, toms of the Greeks which d Tov yv^vcca-iov nt^kv. continue to the present day. e Kara to n^i-amov. Pau- Hence among the ancients san. Eliac. prior, c. 15, 20. the word a,\aos Was used for f 'H iao^cx; % ocyovan if 70 the whole sacred inclosure, £t« Id. ibid, c 20. 40 OLYMPIA. [CHAP. I. of wild olives a , which, as the temple fronted the east, places the Stadium on the continuation of the upper level eastward of the site of the Altis. In fact, unless it was on the plain towards the Alpheius, it must have been in this situation, since we have already seen, from Xenophon and Pausanias, that the Cladeus bounded the Altis on the west. Strabo, indeed, seems to denote the Alpheius as flowing by the Stadium, but I conceive him to have meant only that it flowed (generally speaking) by the site of Olympia: and this interpretation is confirmed by Pausa- nias, who mentions the river at the beginning of his description in the same general way, and never has occasion to speak of it in the course of his details ; thus favouring the opinion that it did not immediately border either the Altis or the Stadium. As to the Hippodrome, the usual length of these monuments having been two sta- dia b , there was not sufficient space for it any- where but in the lower part of the plain, south- eastward of the Altis, between it and the river j and I am inclined to think, that the side of the Hippodrome, which Pausanias describes as an artificial embankment, was parallel to the river, a "EcrTi ^' Iv ty> TTiaart^ to p. 353. Ugoy .... tr^anrai S" aX<70 5 b P ausan . Eliac. post. C ay ? » E A«; W v, ^ h d> to aTcihoV j(} j p j| > ^ 3 c %q ■za,%ctpf>ti 8' 'ATi^tjoj. Strabo, CHAP. I.] OLYMPIA. 41 and was raised for the purpose of securing the Hippodrome from its inundations. The mode in which the Stadium and Hippodrome were connected, could not, I think, have been very different from the representation of it by M. Barbie du Bocage in his otherwise very indefen- sible plan of Oiympia. The place which formed the connexion was called the Hippaphesis, or starting place of the horses ; in form it resembled the prow of a ship, the head, or Embolus, as it was thence called, being the entrance into the Hippodrome, and the opposite end being formed by the rectilinear ex- tremity of the Stadium, along which there was a portico called the Stoa of Agaptus. On the two other sides of the Hippaphesis were ranges of apartments for containing horses and chariots; these sides were upwards of 400 feet long, con- verging towards the Embolus, or entrance of the Hippodrome, and probably slightly curved for the sake only of a more beautiful shape. At the Embolus there must have been space sufficient for the contending chariots to be drawn up abreast, after they had come out of the apart- ments on the two opposite sides of the Hippa- phesis in regular order, beginning with the two chambers nearest to the Stoa of Agaptus, and ending with the two nearest to the Embolus \ a Pausan. Eliac. prior, c. 15. — Eliac. post, c. 20. 42 OLYMPIA. [CHAP. I. It must follow, I think, from this arrangement of the Hippaphesis, that the axis of the Stadium was in a north and south direction, its circular end resting upon, and perhaps partly formed out of, the side of Mount Cronium, or rather of its prolongation eastward, and the rest formed, as Pausanias describes it, of an artificial embank- ment a . The Stadium, thus placed upon ground rather higher than the Hippodrome, would command from every part of it a good view of all that passed in the latter 15 . We read in Suetonius, that Nero, desirous of obliterating the memory of all his rivals in ago- a X5/*a yrff. b Since these remarks have been written, Mr. J. Spencer Stanhope has published his work on the Topography of Olympia, accompanied by a plan of the site. I there find indicated two parallel banks of the precise length of a Sta- dium, with some appearances of a circular end abutting on the hills adjacent to Cronium on the east. It is very possi- ble that these banks, which I did not observe when at Olympia, are remains of the artificial embankments of the Olympic Stadium, and it is curious that they lie exactly in the direction I had con- ceived from the description of Pausanias ; and very nearly in the same position also, be- ing only a little farther to the eastward than I had sup- posed. Having obtained per- mission from Mr. Stanhope to make use of his plan, which was executed by Mr. Allason, an architect, and was the re- sult of a fortnight's residence at Olympia, I willingly re- ject the eye sketch I had pre- pared to accompany these re- marks, though I find that in the main it differs little from Mr. Allason's. I have added to Mr. A.'s plan references to the positions of some of the ancient monuments, accord- ing to my conception of the description of Pausanias. CHAP. I.] OLYMPIA. 43 nistic glory, ordered the statues of the athletae at Olympia to be thrown into the common sewers. We are certain, however, from Pausa- nias, that no such orders were ever executed, at least to any extent ; for it cannot be doubted from the accurate description of the Greek traveller, that almost as late as the third cen- tury, Olympia still preserved the most nume- rous and choicest collection of works of art that Greece could ever boast of; to deposit his works at this place being one of the highest honours that a great sculptor could obtain. It was with reason, therefore, that an excavation at Olympia was a favourite speculation of the celebrated Winckelmann. With the exception of the colossus by Phidias in ivory and gold in the temple of Jupiter, of twenty-two other chryselephantine figures by more ancient mas- ters in the temple of Juno, and of those of the same kind in the Philippeium, works which cannot have escaped human spoliation, or the ravages of time ; all the other productions of art at Olympia were of the durable materials of brass and marble. The Aeti alone of the tem- ple of Jupiter contained forty or fifty colossal figures. Besides the works in the temples of Jupiter and Juno, Pausanias notices fifty-seven statues of the former deity, of which six were colossal ; and he describes more than one hun- 44 PYRGO. [CHAP. I. dred other sacred dvaQripctrot,, some of which were composed of several figures representing the actions of deities or heroes. There were no less than 260 statues of athletae, several of which were accompanied by horses and chariots, in memory of victories in the Hippodrome. The far greater part of these works were in brass. In every instance in which Pausanias could obtain the information, he mentions the name of the celebrated artist who made the statue, as well as the occasion of its dedication, and he expressly informs us that he has not enumerated all the objects of inferior note. He describes eighty-four altars, a portion of which were in the Stadium, Hippaphesis, and Hippo- drome ; and we may infer, from what has already been discovered, that there must have been an infinity of smaller dedications of armour and of other votive offerings, as well as records of treaties and other inscribed documents on brass or marble : so that there is every reason to believe, that the most interesting discoveries in illustration of the arts, language, customs, and history of Greece, may yet be made by ex- cavations at Olympia. Feb. 26. — Pyrgo and nine other Greek vil- lages were separated from the Kazasi a of Gas- a A kaza, or court of jus- rial division of a liva or go- tice, is a subordinate territo- vernment. In the Turkish CHAP. I.] PYRGO. 45 tuni, on occasion of the death of one Ahmet Pasha, who had built a tower \nvgyo<;~\ at the principal village of the ten, and had made it his residence, governing the district so well, that Pyrgo became the most commercial place in the west of the Morea. As soon as the Greeks of Pyrgo were deprived of his protection, the Turks of Gastuni began grievously to oppress them : they complained to the Porte, when the Sultan, as heir of the deceased Pasha, (accord- ing to the maxim that all the property of his servants belongs to him,) made over the reve- nues of the ten villages of Pyrgo, with the cus- toms of the Skales of Katakolo and Rufia, (mouth of the Alpheins,) and the fisheries of the lagoons of Agulenitza and St. John, to the Kaaba (pronounced by the Turks Keabe) of Mekka, as Vakuf, or church property, appoint- ing, as usual, a V6ivoda a for the separate go- vernment of the district, and the collection of the revenue. The family of Khotman Oglu, however, still enjoys an interest derived from the original grant, and the Voivoda is obliged to allow its representative a certain sum for the system Mora £the Morea] is but, from its importance, the properly a liva subordinate to Morea has generally been go- the Eyalet of the Djczair, i. e. verned separately by a Vezir, the province or government or Pasha of Three Tails, general of the islands which ;1 BoiSovTxc. are under the Kapitan Pasha; 40 PYRGO. [CHAP. I. farm. In consequence of the increasing com- merce of the two ports of Pyrgo, from whence all the grain, cheese, butter, wool, and honey of the surrounding country is exported, successive Voivodas have increased the revenues to fifty purses a year. The military power acquired however by the Albanians of Lalla, has obliged the Porte to acquiesce in the appointment of one of their chieftains to the Voivodilik, and Mustafa Aga is now governor of Pyrgo. Mustafa gives the Khotman seven purses for the two fisheries, and sells them to Greek farmers for twelve, to whom they are worth twenty-four or thirty. In like manner he hires of the Khotman the customs of the ports of Pyrgo, together with those of Pyrghi and K6- raka, for seven purses, and sells them for twelve to Greeks, who collect twenty-five purses. The Khotman sells the customs of the other two ports of the district of Gastuni, namely, Gla- rantza and Kunupeli, with the fishery of Kotyk- hi, to Greeks of Lekhena and Gastuni for thirty- six purses. Besides the old customs, of which the Male- kiane belongs to the family of Khotman, there is a bedaat, or new tax on the export of cheese, corn, and kalambokki ; this is purchased directly from the Porte by the Aga, for about twelve purses, and is sold to the Greeks for about CHAP. I.] TYRGO. 47 twenty. Corn embarked for the use of govern- ment pays only half bedaat. The commerce in all these articles is in the hands of the Greeks, who ship from hence about 4000 modhia of wheat, 5000 or 6000 modhia of kalambokki, and 3000 cwt. of cheese, importing in return European manufactures and colonial produce. The alikes a , or salt manufactory, at the mouth of the Rufia, is the property of the crown, and is let for six purses. I purchased at Pyrgo a small votive helmet, three inches long and two inches and a half high, terminating at the top in a flat circular ap- pendage, pierced in the middle for the recep- tion of a single upright bunch of feathers, or other similar ornament. At the back of this apex there is the figure of a fish ; on either cheek of the helmet a boar and a serpent. There are two holes for the eyes, and a mouth and chin are represented in the usual opening left for that part of the face. On the edge of the cranium, in front, are the following letters : >a(^on fl^ljO 109 b The person who sold me this interesting lit- tle relick said, that it was found at the Paleo- a 'AXwaU' appearance I have represent- b The letters are much ed, one can hardly doubt to worn. The second from the have been intended for an left, though it has now the epsilon, as the entire inscrip- 48 PYRGO. [CHAP. I. kastro of Khaiaffa ; but I have some doubts of the truth of this assertion, and think that it may very possibly have come from Oiympia, the fertile mine of such remains : it happened that the owner of it was present when I was making inquiries concerning the ruins at Khaiaffa, and he thought perhaps I should attach a greater value to it, if he asserted that it came from thence. tion would then be (to express it in Hellenic letters) KOIOE M' AnOESEN — Koto? /A ettoijj- o-ev — " Cceus made me." The conversion of the two epsilons into an alpha, in the last word, is singular. KOIOE might indeed be read KmOS £k.wo/] ; but this being the gentile of the island of Cos, and it being rather uncommon to meet with gentiles as the proper names of men, KoToj is 4 much to be preferred j Coeus moreover having been a name of some celebrity, as that of the father of Latona, from whom a river in Messenia re- ceived its appellation. As to the doubtful letter, i. e. the first on the left, or the last of the inscription, it seems very clear that the en- graver had begun to write the inscription from left to right, and had already formed the O upon which the h*^" or N was afterwards en- graved. The obscurity of the second letter may have been owing to the same cause. CHAPTER II. TRIPHYLIA. From Pyrgo to Arkadhia. — Ancient geography of the maritime part of Triphylia. — District of Arkadhia. Feb. 27. — Leave Pyrgo for Arkadhia. There being no post 3 at Pyrgo, I am obliged to travel with the Agoi b , each hired horse or two being accompanied by the owner on foot. Our pace is consequently that of a pedestrian, but which, unless where the roads are level and very good, is nearly the same as that of horses loaded with baggage. We cross the Alpheius at a spot a little above the magazines of the Skala of the Rufea c , about half a mile from the sea. The ferry boat carries three horses and as many men, besides the boatmen. The river is rapid, and forty or fifty yards wide, but no part of the Perama is so much as five feet in depth, as I perceive by the poles with which the boatmen pushed over. After the passage the road re- gains the foot of the hills, a little short of Agu- lenitza, a village standing on the side of a a Turcice, Menzil. Keradji, carrier, wide 'Ayu- b 'Ayuyiov, Italice, a vet- yidrma, ocXoya, carriers' horses tnra. From this word is let for hire. ■derived 'Ayuyioirrn;, Turcice, c Tw 'Poi^eW VOL. I. E 50 AGULENITZA. [CHAP. II. pointed summit, where the hills begin to be se- parated only by a narrow plain from a large lagoon, which extends from hence along the shore nearly as far as Khaiaffa. The house of the Aga of Agulenitza is built, like that of Mustafa at Pyrgo, in the form of a tower, with an entrance over a draw-bridge, and a high flight of steps leading up to it. This kind of house is known to the Greeks by the word pyrgo, tower, in Turkish kule. The towers of the Morea are, in general, better constructed than those of Albania. I observed near the village as we passed, a peasant girl in the fields, who was a perfect model of Greek beauty, both in face and figure. These instances are rare, and of course more rare in the female than the male sex in a country where poverty and oppression accustom the great bulk of the people to hard living from their cradles, which the males can better bear. Even when female beauty does occur, it soon declines for the same reasons. Agulenitza is surrounded with vineyards, and the hills beyond it, as far as the point of Khaiaffa, are beautifully diversified with broken ground and woods of pine. Two miles beyond the vil- lage a road turns to the left through the hills to Fanari, six hours distant. Farther on I see several horses loaded with deal planks descend- ing the hills ; the planks are deposited on the CHAP. H.] AGULENITZA. 5\ side of the lagoon, and carried away by sea. A narrow sandy ridge covered with a wood of pines divides the lake from the sea ; as we ad- vance, this ridge is wider and the woods thicken, occupying large islands in the middle of the lake, which becomes narrower, and more like a marsh. In some parts the space between the lake and the hills is not above 200 yards in width, and in no part so much as half a mile ; so that the ruggedness and woody nature of the hills on one side, and the marsh on the other, would make the whole passage from Agulenitza to Khaiaffa difficult in face of an opponent. A mile and a half short of Khaiaffa we cross a river, descending from the summit of the mountain of Smerna, and flowing by Vrina. The road to Fanari passes through a part of this valley, and along the north eastern face of the mountain of Smerna. We were one hour and a half in reaching Agulenitza from Pyrgo, in- cluding some loss of time at the ferry, and three hours and a half more to Khaiaffa. — Xa^aT-ra, as it is properly written, or Khaiaffa, as it is more commonly pronounced, is nothing but a Derveny, or guarded pass, at the foot of a steep rocky point, projecting to the sea from the mountain of Smerna, and separated from the sea-beach only by a continuation of the e Q 5 L 2 KHAIAFFA. [CHAP. II. sand-bank and wood above-mentioned, which is here a quarter of a mile in breadth. By this woody sand-bank the southern extremity of the Agulenitza Lake, or Rufea fishery a , as it is commonly called, is separated from the northern extremity of another lake of the same kind, which washes the foot of the Smerna mountain nearly as far as Sakari. Between the extre- mities of the two lakes there is a narrow cause- way, and a bridge in the middle of it over an occasional inundation, that unites the two lakes* Before entering upon the causeway the road passes between two hillocks of rock, on one of which is the Derveni b , or guard-house of the pass. Near this point I turn a little out of the road, to the left, to visit the Paleo-kastro of Khaiaffa. It is situated on the north-west side of the projection just mentioned of the Smerna moun- tain ; the ruined walls of a Hellenic city sur- round the upper part of the hill, the slope of which is clothed with chestnuts, walnuts, and other large trees, mixed with the usual maritime shrubs of Greece. The ancient wall is six feet thick, and about one mile and a half in circum- ference ; it follows the contour of the hill on three sides, with projecting and re-entering an- a Ai6«i Now these ruins (of Samia, or Samicum) are very near the Anigrus, and although it is doubted by the Arcadians that Samicum was called Arene, they confess that Minyeius was the ancient name of the river Anigrus." It seems unnecessary to add many observa- tions on these two extracts. A reference to the Itinerary will be sufficient, I think, to leave little doubt as to the principal points. The hill which separated Macistia from Pisatis was pro- bably not far to the southward of the modern Agulenitza, which, as I shall have occasion to show hereafter, stands upon the site of Epita- lium, or the Homeric Thryoessa. For the existence of a Chalets between this position and KhaiafFa we have, I believe, no VOL. I. F (56 ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. [CHAP. II. other authority than the line of Homer, upon which Strabo here comments, and which is of doubtful authenticity. There is a river, how- ever, as I have remarked in the Itinerary, which descends from the mountain of Smerna into the lagoon a mile or two northward of Khaiaffa. It is possible that the ancient name of this stream may have been Chalcis. In the neigh- bourhood of Khaiaffa we find the ruins of Sa- mia or Samicum, the caverns, the marsh, the Anigrus, the Achasan rocks, as well as some other particulars in conformity with the ancient authors, as I have remarked in the Itinerary. The fetid smell of the marsh and its unwhole- some fish, which Pausanias, a lover of fable, ascribes to a peculiar quality of the river Ani- grus, is rationally accounted for by the more philosophic Strabo, as the effect of the repul- sion of the sand by the surf, and the conse- quent stagnation of the waters. It is observ- able that Pausanias states, that the Anigrus rises in Lapithus, an Arcadian mountain ; I am not informed of the exact course of the river, but its origin is certainly in the mountain of Smerna, which terminates westward at Khaiaffa, for the next stream to the southward, or that which joins the sea at St. Isidore, flows from a valley which separates the mountain of Smerna from Mount Vunuka, receiving contributions CHAP. II.] ANCIENT GEOGRAniY. 67 from the adjacent slopes of both mountains. The sources of the Anigrus, therefore, as well as those of the Acidas, which, according to Pausanias, was a branch of the Anigrus, must be in the mountain of Smerna, which thus becomes identified with the ancient Lapithus. This was the mountain inhabited by the Paro- reatae, who, as well as the Caucones-Pylii, were driven out of their country by the Minyae, when the latter founded the six towns of Ma- cistus, Phrixa, Lepreum, Pyrgi, Epium, and Nudium a ; and who consequently appear to have occupied the whole country, which was after- wards called Triphylia, from its being inhabited by the three tribes of Epeii, Eleii, and Minya? b . As to its being called by Pausanias an Arcadian mountain, one is not much surprised at this, as Arcadia was sometimes supposed to border on this part of the coast for the length of 100 stades , whence the Pylus, here situated, was known by the epithet of Arcadic d as well as Triphyliac ; though it is certain that in the time of the Roman empire the mountain of Smerna, and all the country as far as the Alpheius, con- stituted a part of Triphylia, and consequently belonged to the Eleia. a Herodot. 1. iv. c. 148. b Strabo, p. 337- 1 Scylax in Arcadia. tl Strabo, p. 337- F 2 08 ARKADHIA. [CHAP. II. If Pausanias has determined the ancient name of the mountain of Smerna to have been Lapi- thus, it is no less certain from Strabo that Mount Vunuka was the ancient Minthe. What the geographer says of the Acidon, or Jardanes, seems to agree very well with the testimony of Pausanias as to the same river, which he calls Acidas, and which, as I have already hinted, appears to have been a stream flowing from the mountain of Smerna into the lake of Khaiaffa, in which it joined the Anigrus. The river of St. Isidore I conceive to be that which Strabo calls Mamaus, or Pamisus, or Arcadicus : as to his two temples of Neptune, one of them ap- pears to have stood under Samicum, at or near the present Derveni of Khaiaffa, the other on the shore about midway between it and Le- preum. The latter was that at which Strabo supposes Telemachus to have landed j the for- mer he sufficiently distinguishes by the words " the most venerated " a . His distance of 200 stades, however, between the Anigrus and Le- preum is too much by a third. On arriving at Arkadhia I proceed to the house of the consular agent, M. Pasqualego, who soon afterwards accompanies me to the castle. This fortress, the Acropolis of the an- • \ / / 3 TO fJt.OC.M'JTOt. TijJLUfAlVOV. CHAP. II.] ARKADHIA. G9 cient Cyparissia?, is situated at about a mile in direct distance from the sea, on the narrow summit of a rock, connected with and immedi- ately overlooked by a high mountain called Aia Paraskevi a , or St. Friday. The castle looks down upon the houses of the town, which cover the flanks of the ridge on both sides ; beyond them it commands a view in either direction of the beautiful slope which descends from the moun- tain of Paraskevi to the sea. Near the town are plantations of olives mixed with corn fields, but beyond these the plain on both sides is covered with wild shrubs, and scarcely a village is seen. There are said to be 600 houses in the town, one-third of which are Greek. None of the latter have so good an appearance as some of those at Gastuni and Pyrgo, though the collec- tion of the taxes and most of the other offices are here in the hands of the Greeks. The Turk who farms the revenue of the Porte is Seid Ahmet Aga, who is likewise Kadi : he pays forty purses for the town and district, which contains between eighty and ninety vil- lages. The number of ^a^r/cc b , or Kharatjes, a "Aytcc Ylx^cta-Kivn. venture beyond his district b The acquittance for the unprovided with this docu- Kharatj, or annual capitation ment, without being liable to tax, is called by the Greeks pay the tax a second time ; to %«fT*j the paper, from its nor will this caution always importance, as no Rayah can save him. 70 ARKADHIA. [CHAP. II. is 4216 : — 500 of thirteen piastres, 1500 of seven, the rest of three. The nominal sums are eleven, five, and two and a half, but the real sums taken are as above. On the shore below the town, two or three magazines, behind a projection of rock, indicate the Skala of Arkadhia, but it seldom happens that ships venture to remain long in the road- sted, and during the winter hardly a boat ap- pears. The island of Proti a , by the Italians called Prodano, is, in fact, the port of Arkad- hia, and all the export produce is conveyed there. This consists, in common years, of 15,000 barrels of oil, 50,000 kilos of wheat, to- gether with hogs, barley, vallonea, honey, cot- ton, cheese, butter, hides. The oil is carried to the Adriatic, the rest chiefly to the Seven Islands. It is thought that at two months* notice Malta might procure from hence 500 oxen and 2000 sheep. The roadsted of Arkad- hia, though bad, seems to be the best on this coast northward of Navarino, with the wind to the south or south-east, for I observe to-day (the wind being in that quarter) that the beach ■ I touched at Proti in frequent use of which is at- 1802, sailing from Tzerigo to tested by numerous Greek Zakytho, and found a shel- scribblings of all ages on the tered cove bordered by steep rocks, rocks, the convenience and CHAP. II.] ARKADHIA. 71 here is smooth, while breakers whiten all the shore of Triphylia and Elis. A little south of the Skala, close to the sea- side, a fine stream rushes out of the rock, and runs into the sea ; close by there is a bason with a spring of water a , bubbling up at the bot- tom ; around it are some stones, which once belonged to some ancient structure, and are now used by the washerwomen to beat their linen upon. A little southward of this spot, on the top of the bank overlooking the sea beach, there is a building in a wood of olives, erected for the fair b , which is held here on the 8th September, O. S., together with some sheds for selling cattle. Immediately below the castle, half way from thence to the sea side, in a gar- den surrounded with a hedge of bay d , and containing some fig-trees and pot-herbs, I find, in a church of St. George, a fragment of a fluted column, and two or three others in the garden, one of which is in its original situation, and seems to indicate this place as the site of a temple. I found also a large hollowed block of stone in the neighbouring hedge. At the entrance of the castle, as well as in different parts of its walls, are seen some pieces of Hel- lenic wall of the third order of masonry, or that which is neither altogether polygonal nor quite a fSgtVtf. b ircciiYiyvgt. c -TTt^QoXi. A <$x on a bright frosty morning, we descend along a paved road through a forest of oaks, which covers this part of the mountain, till at 8.30 we arrive at the foot of the mountain : the oaks are some of the finest I have yet seen in Greece ; those of the Kokhla Derveni were crooked, and few of them of any great size ; but the greater part of these are straight as well as large. Even these, however, are not to be compared to the hedge-row oaks of England, and not one of them has a perfectly handsome head. The forest is four or five miles in circumference, and belongs to the district of Londari. At 9, we arrive at the fountain of the Pasha as it is called, on the edge of the great plain of the Alpheius, but our road, instead of entering the plain, leaves it on the left, and after crossing a tributary of that river, traverses some low heights, the last roots of a mountain which se- parates the valleys of the two extreme branches of the Alpheius, and thus passes between Lon- dari and Sinanu. At the latter place there are some remains of Megalopolis, by the natives called the ruins of Palea Arkadhia, the provincial VOL. I. G 82 TO TRIPOLITZA. [CHAP. III. name having become that of its ruined capital, by a sort of process analogous to that conversion of particulars into generals, and the reverse, of which there are so many instances in the transi- tion of Hellenic into Romaic. The Palea now serves to distinguish Megalopolis from Arkhadhia, which name may, perhaps, have been substituted for Cyparissiae by some colony from Megalopolis, during the decline of the Roman empire. "We now approach the range which bounds the plain of the Alpheius on the east, as Ly- cceum does on the west. This eastern range ex- tends from Dhimitzana, which is seen in a lofty situation to the north, twelve or fifteen miles from our road, as far as Mount Khelm6s, which lies eight or ten miles to the right. To the north of Khelmos there is another high summit, rising immediately opposite to Londari and Mount Makryplai ; it is called Tjimbaru*. At 10, we cross the river of Londari, and soon after another stream, which issues from the foot of the mountain near Rapsomati b , a little village to our right. About three miles farther on the right, is another village, Gardhiki. We now ascend the pass, and look down to the left upon a rocky gorge, through which flows a torrent, called Gdhani. CHAP. III.] TO TRIPOLITZA. 83 At 11.45, having arrived at the summit of the rocky ascent, I have a fine view of Karitena and its castle, situated at the northern or lower extremity of the same plain of Megalopolis, or of the upper Alpheius, which we have just been skirting at its southern extremity. Karitena is situated in a strong pass, defended by its castle, which stands on a very remarkable table-height. In the opposite direction are seen the peaked summits of Mount Tai/getum, covered with snow. The mountain we pass is not very high or difficult. It was here that the two travellers are said to have been murdered by the robbers. We now descend into a marshy valley, opening into a plain, the middle of which, on the right, is occupied by a lake. The plain is three or four miles in diameter, surrounded with bare rocky hills without any cultivation, except round two or three small villages, one of which, to the south-west, is called Papari. I observe some flocks of sheep and goats, and a great quantity of starlings. Having crossed the northern end of this plain in an e.n.e. direction, we arrive, at 1.30, at the remains of a Paleo- kastro, consisting of a piece of wall of the third order, following the slope of a rocky flat- topped hill, which rises to the height of about fifty feet above the plain. The wall of the Acropolis is traceable round the summit. g 2 84 TRIPOLITZA. [CHAP. III. These are probably the remains of Asea. A quarter of an hour farther, a fine source of water issues from the foot of the same height : it is called Frangovrysi 3 , Frank-spring, and gives name to a Khan, which stands near the fountain, and is reckoned two hours and a half from Tripolitza. Towards the opposite side of the valley, at no great distance, there is an- other copious source. The road afterwards crosses a marshy tract, and then ascends a rocky height, which divides the vale of Frangovrysi from that of Tripo- litza. It is called Kravari, and seems to be the ancient Boreium. The road is paved both over the marsh and the mountain, which it crosses in a north north east direction, bending from thence to Tripolitza more northerly. From the summit of the hill, the castle of Tripolitza is visible, but not the town. The scenery is most dismal, and reminds me of the first view of the plain of Argyrokastro, which it resembles, in being an uniform, marshy level of great extent, inclosed within lofty, rugged mountains of limestone. But both these plains present a very different aspect in the spring, and are in fact very fertile districts if properly managed. An inundation called Taki appears CHAP. III.] TRIPOLITZA. 85 in the corner to our right. The great elevation of the plain above the level of the sea is im- mediately evident from the comparative height of the mountains, which appear much lower here than they do from the side of Argos or of Megalopolis. Having descended into the plain, the road ceases to be paved, and at the end of four miles we arrive at the gates of the capital, of which nothing is seen but a small part of the walls, until we are close upon it. On the highest point of a hill at the southern end of the city, a large tower serves for a cita- del ; the rest of the fortification consists of a poor Turkish wall, with small towers, which are rather more respectable than the wall, but are situated at great distances apart. The walls inclose within them several vacant spaces, where the rugged rock is seen in many places project- ing above the soil. The houses are built of mud bricks like the other towns of the Morea, the streets are no less filthy and ill-paved, and the habitations in general equally wretched. In the principal Mosque, among the barbarous columns of the portico, there is a fine Doric fluted shaft of white marble brought from the ruins of Tegea. There is another of the same material and dimensions in a smaller mosque near the Palace. The latter building surrounds a large square court not far from the great 86 TRIPOLITZA. [CHAP. HI. Mosque, and is a good specimen of the misera- ble magnificence of Turkey. March 6. — This forenoon I visit Mehmet Pasha, surnamed Vanli, as being a native of Van near the frontiers of Persia 3 ; my reception was marked with the ceremony and civility that no Turkish governor now dares refuse to an Englishman, but without the smallest appear- ance of cordiality, and I am told that the Vanli is considered as leaning to the French. He has feed his adherents at Constantinople so well, that he hopes to remain in his government an- other year. His most active partizan there is Dhimitri Paparagopulo, a Tripolitziote. This man began by carrying on a small business as a serraf, or broker, in which capacity he served Aly EfFendi, a Turk of Tripolitza, who was ambassador at Paris. Dhimitri, having disco- vered that the Sultan was fond of French ma- nufactures and wines, advised Aly to send him some as presents, and thus obtained favour for his patron, who in return procured the French protection for Dhimitri. Aly on his return to Constantinople was appointed Tersane-Tefter- dar, or treasurer of the navy, an office intended as a check upon the Capitan Pasha, and Dhi- a He is a Vezir, or Pasha tuled by the Turks Mora of Three Tails, and, as go- Valesi. vernor of the Morea, is inti- CHAP. III.] TRIP0L1TZA. 87 mitri rose so rapidly in his business of serraf, that he is now courted by a Pasha of Three Tails. Papadhopulo of Aios Petros, or St. Pe- ter's", and Barbopulo of Tripolitza are of the same party, and under the favour of Vanli find their interest in oppressing all their fellow Christians who are in their power. So much do they resemble Turks, that I hear them called Papasoglu and Barboglu ; and they are said to delight in giving their names this Turkish form. March 10. T^ToX/r^a, vulgarly pronounced Tripolitja, and called by the Turks Tarabolusa, is the chief town of a Kaza, bounded by those of Argos, Mistra, Londari, Karitena, and Kala- vryta. St. Peter's properly belongs to it, but being inhabited entirely by Christians, it has been formed into a separate Vilayeti, under the government of a Greek Hodja-bashi, immedi- ately responsible to the Pasha, who has found this the best mode of ensuring order, and col- lecting the revenue, in the difficult mountains which form that district. The Vilayeti of Tripolitza contains sixty villages, including those of St. Peter's. The town contains 2,500 houses, of which 1,000 are Greek. The walls were built about sixteen years ago, probably at the same time as those of Athens, which they much resemble in their paltry construction. 88 TR1P0LITZA. [CHAP. III. The grass on the plain of Tripolitza is of a very fine quality, and so plentiful and long that there is a regular hay harvest. The cli- mate differs from that of the maritime plains almost as much as the south of England from the south of France. In the winter the snow often lies very thick upon the plain for several days. It has now been raining, with little in- termission, for five days, and there has been much thunder ; the mountains around are covered with snow. Mount Khrepa, or Apa- nokrepa a as it is generally called, which is the highest summit of Mount Mcenalhmi, lies be- tween Tripolitza and Mantineia, but nearer the former. Of the opposite, or eastern range, the summit is called Turniki, from a village of that name in one of the roads to Argos; Mount Malevo b , in the direction of Aios Petros, and seen over the part of the range which bounds the plain of Tegea, is higher than either of these, to judge by the quantity of snow which crowns it. Its height is probably about 5,000 feet. March 11. — A sharp frost this morning. I ride out with Kyr Yanataki % agent of the En- glish consul at Patra, to Paleo Episkopi, a ruined church on the site of Tegea, about three miles and a half on the road to Aios a ' ' Airowux.flxct. the Sclavonic languages. b From Male, mountain, in c FictvccTKKrx. CHAP. HI.] TEGEA. S9 Petros. The position, though so near to Tripo- litza, is not seen from it, the view being inter- rupted by a rising ground upon which stands a church of Aio Sosti (St. Saviour). This height is the summit of a low ridge which crosses from Mount MamaUum to the eastern range, and se- parates the course of the waters flowing to the Taki, from those which flow to another inunda- tion near the village of Persova on the road which leads to Argos, over Mount Parthenium. Paleo Episkopi, or the old episcopal church, stands on a small height in the middle of the fields, on the right hand side of the road to St. Peter's, and is surrounded at a small distance by the remains of a wall apparently of the same date as the church, which is built of brick mixed with fragments of ancient architecture of white marble, together with plain wrought blocks and mutilated inscriptions of the same material. One of the latter I find very interesting, though consisting merely of names, as a part of these names are classed under the four (pvXcu, or tribes of the citizens of Tegea mentioned by Pausanias. They are ranged under the four heads of inno©oiTAi nOAITAI En A0ANAIAN nOAITAI KPAPIfiTAI nOAITAI AnOAAftNIATAI after which follows a long list of metoikoi, or 90 TEGEA. [CHAP. III. sojourners. In our copies of Pausanias a the names are written f Wxo0o'l'rig, ' ' A6a,vidric, y KXa- geaurig, and ' A^oXXcovsccng, I measured here a piece of architrave of which the metope was one foot in breadth, the length of the glyphs of the triglyph one foot eight inches. I found also, lying on the ground, the trunk of a white marble statue, measuring ten inches and a half from the hip-bone to the arm-pit. The form is elegant, but no part, except the back, preserves its sur- face. After passing an hour here we ride to the little village of Akhuria b , close to which my companion possesses a farm. The priest whose house we enter sets before us a menestra, or soup made of rice and salted star-fish c , with a dish of boiled wild onions, cold and without oil, no- thing but salt, pepper, and vinegar being al- lowed in Lent ; afterwards, on finding that I do not keep fast, he produces some eggs and better wine than I got in the city, though as light in body as in colour, and deriving its flavour en- tirely from the turpentine with which it is forti- fied to prevent its turning sour in the spring. The Plain of Tegea, which lies on a lower level than that of Tripolitza, presents a very different aspect, being almost entirely cultivated with corn and vines. It produces excellent 8 Pausan. Arcad. c. 53. b 'a^o^kx. c &xTa7r&7*. CHAP. III.] TEGEA. 91 wheat and barley. Kalambokki is chiefly grown in the lowest part, near the Taki, where a great part of the ground now inundated is dry in the summer. The slope of the land, though scarce- ly perceptible, is such that the upper part of the plain of Tegea is well drained into this lake. In many parts the soil appears stony and light, in others it is a rich black loam. From Akhu- ria we ride to Piali 3 , a village belonging to Yanataki, where, in the church, which is in ruins and without a roof, I find many frag- ments of the ancient Tegea, such as pieces of fluted columns of white marble, and a fragment of architrave, with a caput bovis for the metope j but the most remarkable remains at Piali are the foundations of an ancient building near the church, formed of fine squared stones, among which are two pieces of some large columns of white marble. They are so much buried in the ground, that the only dimension I could obtain was the chord of the fluting, measuring eight inches j the fluting Doric, whereas some of those in the columns in the church appeared to be Ionic. The small marble Doric columns in the mosques of Tripolitza are known to have been brought ten years ago from Piali, where they were dug out of a pond near the church, on the side of which some lofty white poplars b 92 TEGEA. [CHAP. III. are now growing. The Papas says that fifteen of the small columns were then taken out, but he cannot inform me what became of them all. It is said that some steps of marble, deeply worn by use, were found in the same pond. The excavation, where the fragments of the great columns are still lying, is more recent, and has been made for the purpose of obtaining building materials. The great co- lumns must be broken, before they can be of any use to modern workmen, and I cannot learn that any of them have yet been so treated ; so that perhaps the masons, finding these great cylinders of hard marble too intractable, may resort to some new excavation, or be satisfied with the foundation stones, which are of a stone less hard. Though the proximity of so large a modern town as Tripolitza must have been in- jurious to the preservation of the remains of Tegea, the deep alluvial soil of its site, on the other hand, is favourable to the concealment of such treasures, and may still contain some of the works of Grecian art, which remained there at the end of the second century. The principal objects then observed by Pau- sanias a were, a stadium near the Temple of Minerva Alea, formed entirely of embankments a Pausan. Arcad. c. 45, 46, 47, 48. 52, 53. CHAP. III.] TEGEA. 93 of earth, without any seats of stone*; here were celebrated two gymnastic contests, called Alaea and Halotia. On the northern side of the temple was the fountain Auge, and three stades distant from it the Temple of Hermes .ZEpytus. There were temples also of Minerva Poliatis and of Diana Hegemone. The Agora contain- ed a temple of Venus, surnamed lv wXivOa, or " Venus in the tile ", from the shape of the Agora ; the statue of the goddess was of mar- ble. There were two o-ttjXcu, or pillars, upon one of which were represented in high relief four Tegeate legislators ; on another a citizen of Tegea, who had been victorious at Olym- pia. On a third pillar, the figure of Mars Gynaecothaenas was wrought in low relief . The Agora contained likewise, an altar of Jupi- ter Teleius, with a quadrangular statue, " a form in which," adds Pausanias, " the Arca- dians seem to me greatly to delight ; " also, mo- numents of Tegeatas, son of Lycaon, and his wife, Msera, daughter of Atlas ; — a temple and statue of Lucina d , surnamed \v yovccrt, or "on the knees," near which was an altar of the Earth 6 ; — and two pillars of white marble, bearing a ara^iov •xfiy.ot, y»5s 'tern. t*i r;. e e~ si^yxtrumrii/ \<; arr,\yjp. CHAP. III.] TEGEA. 95 (b. c. S9~.) the Tegeatse employed Scopas, of Parus, to build a third, " a man, ,, adds Pausa- nias, " who has made many statues as well in Greece as in Ionia and Caria." The Aeti, or pediments of the temple, were adorned witli works of entire statuary. In the front Aetus was represented the hunting of the boar of Calydon. The centre was occupied by the boar, on one side of which were Atalante, Meleager, Theseus, Telamon, Peleus, Pollux, Iolaus, Prothous, Cometes ; on the other side were Epochus supporting Ancaeus, who was re- presented as wounded and dropping his axe % then Castor and Amphiaraus, Hippothous, and lastly Peirithous. The Aetus at the back of the temple contained the contest of Telephus and Achilles in the plain of the Caicus. After the battle of Actium, Augustus, displeased with the Tegeatae for having espoused the cause of Antonius in conjunction with all the other Arcadians except the Mantinenses, carried away from Tegea an ancient ivory statue of Mi- nerva Alea by Endceus, together with the teeth of the Calydonian boar, leaving the skin, which, with some other dedications more remarkable for curiosity than beauty, still remained in the temple at Tegea in the time of Pausanias. The statue of Minerva was placed in the entrance of 3 KiteY.Vt. 9G TEGEA. [CHAP. IIT. the forum of Augustus at Rome, and one of the teeth in the temple of Bacchus in Caesar's gar- dens ; the other was said to have been broken. The statue of Minerva which Pausanias found in the temple of Alea had been brought from the demus of the Manthurenses, where it was called the statue of Minerva Hippia. iEscu- lapius and Hygieia, made of Pentelic marble by Scopas, stood on either side of the goddess. Her altar was of high antiquity, and rich with works in relief. " The temple of Minerva Alea," adds Pausanias, " far excels all the tem- ples in Peloponnesus, both in magnitude and in the other particulars of its construction \ The columns are of three orders, first, Doric, then Corinthian, and on the outside of the temple Ionic. " b The same testimony as to the superior magnificence of the temple of Mi- nerva Alea is repeated by him in speaking of that of Apollo at Bassae, near Phigaleia, which he describes as " inferior to none of the temples of Peloponnesus, except that of Tegea, either in the beauty of its material or the harmony of its construction c , I have already observed, that the material of a E; xu.ra.crxi.vriv ttpoej^ej rvv xch lx.ro/; rov vctov xiovic, i^yacnoct; u'K'Xyiv xa.\ ej jurys-Gof. t»5j 'laipuv. b O (a\v $-/j -K^unoq \crrw uvru c Tov AiSoli ts tc, xot'hXoc. XCLl xocrpoc, ruv xiovuv Awgio? • o di rye, a.p/j.ovia.'; UHy.a. tTn rovru KopiyUioj ■ laryixa.cn ot CHAP. III.] TEGEA. 97 the temple of Jupiter at Olympia, was a soft con- chite limestone ; that of Phigaleia, if I am not misinformed, is of an ordinary, though very hard, kind of limestone. It seems to follow, therefore, from the words of Pausanias alone, that the temple of Minerva Alea was of white marble ; and hence it is highly probable that the large columns which I saw at Piali belonged to that building. Those columns are about five feet in diameter. Now, unless the temple of Alea was decastyle, these dimensions are too small to have belonged to the outer peristyle, since Pausanias gives us to understand that the temple of Alea was larger than the Olympian temple, which was nearly of the same size as the Parthenon. In the Olympian, which was a hexastyle, the columns were more than seven feet in diameter : in the Athenian, which was an octastyle, they were upwards of six. It is clear, moreover, from Pausanias, that the outer peristyle of the temple of Minerva Alea was not Doric, but Ionic ; for his words, Inrog rov vctov, are precisely those which he makes use of in describing the peristyle of the temple of Jupi- ter at Olympia. One can only infer, there- fore, that the Doric columns formed an order within the cell, though for what reason Pau- sanias could have described this order as o-gwroj, or the first, it seems difficult to understand j by VOL. I. H 98 TEGEA. [CHAP. III. the words £?r< rovru, " above this order," he probably meant an upper range of small columns supporting the roof, like those still existing at Paestum. Perhaps future excavations will bring to light some Ionic columns of still larger di- mensions than the great Doric columns at Piali. The smaller Doric columns, which have been removed from Tegea to the mosques of Tri- politza, may have belonged to one of the other temples mentioned by Pausanias, and not to the temple of Minerva Alea ; or possibly to a co- lonnade round the pond, which seems, by the steps I have mentioned, to have once belonged to the hierum of Minerva Alea. There are a few plantations of mulberries about Piali ; neither in these nor any of the few other trees which are seen on the site of Tegea is there any appearance of spring. The corn is just above ground. The part of the plain to the south of the height of Aio Sosti is about ten miles in circumference, and contains fifteen or twenty villages. Tegea stood at the northern end of it, and it seems not improbable, that the height upon which the church of Aio Sosti stands was the ypgiov v-^rjXov, or high place, men- tioned by Pausanias as sacred to Jupiter Clarius, on which there were many altars, and where an eo£>r^, or festival, was celebrated. I am assured at Piali that walls can be traced from a little CHAP. III.] TEGEA. 99 village on the eastern side of this height, round by Paleo-Episkopi to Piali, which is one mile and a half from Aio Sosti. This would make Tegea three or four miles in circumference. I did not procure a single coin at Piali, whereas at Ibrahim EfFendi, a little hamlet a mile to the north-west, where we rode afterwards, the pea- sants brought me fifty in the course of a few minutes, all found in ploughing near Paleo- Episkopi. Some of these are of Arcadia, and one or two of Tegea itself, but the greater part are of the Lower Empire, at which period it is probable that Tegea was reduced to a small town round the church, which is certainly of a remote period of Christianity, and, from its pre- sent name, appears to have been once the ca- thedral of a bishoprick. All the wells which I saw about the villages on the site of Tegea are formed of ancient materials, chiefly of white marble. These wells yield excellent water. In our way back to Tri- politza we ride up to the village and church of Aio Sosti. It commands a fine view of the whole plain of Tegea, with the surrounding mountains, Cresium, Boreium, Mcenalium, Par- thenium ; to the north is seen the plain of Tri- politza, together with the south-eastern part of that of Mantineia inclosed between the parallel ridges of Mamalium and Artemisium. The re- h 2 100 TO PALEOPOLI. [CHAP. III. mainder of the Mantineian plain is shut out by an eastern projection of the heights of Mount Khrepa. To the westward of Aio Sosti the country swells into gentle risings, reaching as far as the low ridge which runs to Tripolitza from Mount Boreium, This ridge forms a na- tural separation between the valley of Pallantium and that of Tegea. The road from Frango- vrysi to the capital traverses the whole length of the former. In returning to Tripolitza we overtake Kyr Anagnosti Papasoglu, the Greek governor of Aios Petros, with pistols at his girdle, and preceded by three Albanian soldiers, going on a visit to the Pasha. He generally travels with twenty or thirty armed Albanians, but does not venture to make his appearance before the Turkish court with more than his present escort. March 12. — I ride with Kyr Yanataki to Paleopoli, as the site of Mantineia is now called ; set out at 9-30, a cold foggy morning. Arrive there in little more than an hour, the distance about eight miles. The road, which in some places is muddy, passes along the foot of Mount Khrepa to a projecting point, where a low ridge of rocks extends for some distance into the plain, opposite to a projection of the eastern mountains, and thus forms a natural division in it. Bv the road side I saw the foundations CHAP. Ill J TO PALEOPOLI. 101 of a Hellenic wall. Proceeding we soon find ourselves opposite to the monastery and small village of Tzipiana, in the road which leads from Tripolitza to Argos by Turniki, over the highest part of the mountain anciently called Artemisium. There are said to be twenty monks in the convent, which stands on the side of a rock at a considerable elevation above the plain. Our road turns afterwards to the north, and then crosses the plain of Manti- neia diagonally, leaving to the left the Kala- vryta road, which continues to the northern extremity of the plain, where it ascends a ridge which forms a natural separation between the Mantinice and Orchomenia. The plain of Man- tineia is not much cultivated. The corn-fields are just beginning to look green ; in other parts the labourers are ploughing the ground which is to lie fallow this year. In the vine- yards they are cutting down the last year's shoots, and hoeing the ground into little hil- locks ; this seems to be the severest kind of labour. I saw a very young girl and a boy still younger at the plough in a field by the road- side as I passed by in the morning, and when I returned in the evening they were still at work. The only supper after a day of such fatigue in this season of fast, is probably a lump of bread made of maize. It is not surprising 102 MANTINEIA. [CHAP. III. that the women all look old at thirty. The men bear want and hard labour better ; but though strong, they have a wrinkled weather- beaten countenance before they are full grown. When sick they have no physician but nature. The vineyards in this plain have a square vat of masonry built in the field for treading the grapes, after which operation the juice, in skins, is carried into the villages. Kalambokki in the plains of Tegea and Mantineia is sown in the end of April and beginning of May, when the inundated parts are clear of water ; the grain is reaped in September. Among the scenes of desolation which Greece presents in every part, there is none more striking to the traveller who has read Pausanias, than the Mantinice. Instead of the large forti- fied city, and the objects which dignified the approach from Tegea, namely, the Stadium, Hippodrome, Temple of Neptune, and other monuments, the landscape now presents only rocky ridges, inclosing a still more naked plain, where not a single tree can be found to repre- sent the wood of oaks and cork-trees, called Pe- lagus, or the groves and gardens which we may suppose to have been maintained in constant ver- dure in such a temperate climate as that of this elevated plain, by its copious supply of water. Mantineia, like Tegea, was situated entirely CHAP. III.] MANTINEIA. 103 in the plain, and nearly in its lowest part, as appears by the course of the waters. It had not even the advantage of such a rising ground as that of Aio Sosti at l^egea, at the same time that the insulated rocky height of Gurtzuli seems to have been inconveniently near, when not forming a part of the defences. In the ex- isting ruins I could not discover any citadel, or interior inclosure of any kind. The circuit of the walls is entire, with the exception of a space of four or five towers on the eastern side j in no place are there more than three courses of masonry existing above the ground, and this height is so uniform that one cannot but believe that the remainder of the works was constructed in sun-baked brick, as it appears to have been when Agesipolis, by means of the little river Ophis, which flowed through the city, made an inundation which submerged the foundations, and effected a breach in the superstructure \ As it is difficult to conceive the possibility of forming from the rivulets of the Mantinice an inundation, sufficiently deep to cover the exist- ing remains, it is probable, that when Mantineia was again fortified, soon after the battle of Leuctra b , a repetition of the former disaster was guarded against, by giving a greater height a Xenoph. Hellen. 1. 5, c. b Xenoph. Hellen. 1. 6. c. 2. — Pausan. Arcad. c. 8. 5. VOL. I. 104 MANTINEIA. [CHAP. III. to the foundations, which, in such a marshy- level, must always have been of stone, and thus the fortification, according to the ideas of Pausanias, answered every purpose ; " for walls," he observes, " made of crude brick are the best against military engines, but when ex- posed to the action of water they dissolve like wax before the sun." The masonry approaches the most regular kind, but the courses are not always equal and horizontal, nor the stones al- ways rectangular ; and there are also some per- fect specimens of the polygonal, or second order, which may be parts of the more ancient work. As in the generality of Hellenic walls, the facing only of the work is constructed with large wrought stones put together without ce- ment ; the middle being filled up with a rubble of broken stones mixed with mortar : the inner facing was two feet thick, the outer four feet, the rubble four feet, total ten feet. The form of the city was slightly elliptical, and about equal to a circle of 1250 yards in diameter, or two miles and a quarter in circumference. The number of towers, if I reckoned right, is 118, the curtains are generally about eighty feet long, the towers twenty-three feet in the face, and thirteen in the flanks. There were ten gates, the approach to which was carefully defended ; the mode varies in almost all of them, and furnishes a CHAP. III.] MANTINEIA. 105 curious illustration of Greek military architec ture. one of them. The following figure will give an idea of The entire circuit of the walls is protected by a wet ditch, formed by a small stream, which flows in from the east, and, embracing the city so as to make it an island, flows west- ward from the opposite extremity. Though formed by a running stream, the ditch is almost stagnant. I found a great number of serpents sleeping in the sun on the edge of the ditch, under the walls. Mantineia, being more distant than Tegea from Tripolitza, has probably not been so much disturbed by masonic depreda- tions. Indeed, I should think an excavation would give nearly a complete plan of the town ; for the foundations of the houses and the line of the streets are in some places apparent. When Pausanias visited Mantineia, it had re- cently received great favours from the Emperor Hadrian, chiefly for the sake of his favourite, Antinous, who was a native of Bithyneium on the Sangarius, which was a colony of Mantineia. Hadrian directed a temple of Antinous to be 106 MANTINEIA. [CHAP. III. built at Mantineia, a reXer^, or annual ceremony, to be celebrated in honour of him, and games every fifth year in the Stadium, at the same time that the ancient name Mantineia was re- stored to the city, in place of that of Antigo- neia, which had been attached to it in honour of Antigonus Gonatas, King of Macedonia a . The following were the monuments which Pausanias b observed within the city. First, " a double temple, divided in the middle by a wall, and containing in one part a statue of 1E&- culapius by Alcamenes, in the other statues of Latona and her children, by Praxiteles. On the pedestal which supported the latter a muse was represented in relief, with Marsyas playing on the pipe. Here were also a figure of Polybius in relief d on a pillar, and temples of Jupiter Soter, of Jupiter Epidotus, and of the Dioscuri 5 in a different part of the town there was a temple of Ceres and Proserpine, in which a perpetual fire was maintained. Near the theatre stood a temple of Juno, containing three statues, by Praxiteles, namely, Juno seated on a throne, with her daughter Hebe and Mi- nerva standing by her. Near the altar of Juno was the tomb e of Areas, which, by command a Pausan. Arcad. c. 8. d iTrupyuaTai j?u;. b Ibid. c. 9. c r». dians, to all whom the Man- c sVsipyaoysK)? ewl r»» atnM. tinenses, when allied with d Pausanias does not say Augustus, were opposed, how this temple, compara- e „;„„„#. tively recent, came to be in 108 MANTINEIA. [CHAP. III. which was in the Cerameicus at Athens a . In the Agora of Mantineia there was a brazen statue of Deomeneia, and the heroum of Po- dares, who distinguished himself in the battle of Mantineia, next to Gryllus and Cephisodorus ; but the designation of another Podares, a de- scendant of the former, had been substituted upon the monument, three generations before the time of Pausanias, in place of that of the hero himself. The theatre of Mantineia still exists in part ; it stood towards the north side of the inclosure, about midway between the centre of the city and the walls. Its diameter was about 240 feet. A part of the circular wall which supported the cavea remains, and is of polygonal masonry. On the north-eastern side of the city, just with- in the walls, are the Kalyvia of Paleopoli, where two huts now contain all the inhabitants of Mantineia. They form part of a tjiftlik belong- ing to a Turk of Tripolitza, who has lately built on the side of the neighbouring hill eight or ten houses, which having also been called Paleopoli, the huts within the ancient walls have become a Kalyvia b , or dependent hamlet ; and thus the proud city, one of the eyes of Arcadia, a Vide Pausan. Attic, c. 3. labourers of a village or con- b Ta K«Xi^3ia, the Huts, is vent, which may be too dis- commonly applied in Greece taut to be a convenient resi- to a hamlet inhabited by the dence for them. CHAP. ITI.] MANTINEIA. 109 has become a dependency of a farm of an Asia- tic barbarian. To the north of Mantineia rises the high conical insulated hill already alluded to, upon which stands the village of Gurtzuli \ From the ruins I rode up to the tjiftlik, or ^swyccXartoc of Paleopoli, and afterwards to Gurtzuli, which consists of twelve or fifteen houses, together with the Pyrgo of the Aga who owns the village. On the summit of the hill there is a ruined church, shaded by some holly-oaks, from whence there is an extensive view of the plain and surrounding mountains. To the north- east is seen the village of Pikerni, or Pik ernes b , now the largest in the Mantinice. It is situated in a recess of the Artemisian range ; a torrent running by the village receives the water of a fountain from the southern side of the valley, and then descends to Paleopoli, near which it is joined by a smaller rivulet from the south- ward. The united stream, as I have already re- marked, then separates again, and after having encircled the ancient walls, again flows in a sin- gle body to the north-west, where it is joined by a larger rivulet which, descending from the part of Mount Artemisium near Tzipiana, passes along the plain to the westward of the ruins. The a ry.ovpr^ovXi. b n»xEgi<>5, or Tlntepteui' 110 GURTZULI. [CHAP. III. united waters then stagnate in the plain, or when sufficiently copious find a subterraneous exit by aKatavothra a , as the Moreites call those subterraneous channels which are frequent in the limestone mountains of the Peninsula. In- deed, so many of the valleys of Arcadia are sur- rounded on every side with mountains, that without such a provision of nature, they must be lakes, or at least uncultivable marshes. Even with the assistance of the Katavothra there are lakes or marshes in almost all the valleys. The Mantinic plain is so dead a level, that it is marshy during all the winter months and great part of the spring. At Gurtzuli we found none but women, the men being all at work in the fields. In reply to our request for refreshment, they protested that they had not anything eatable in the village ; but as this assertion would not pass muster with Kyr Yanataki, they produced at length some eggs, wine, and wheaten bread for me, and for my companion some cold bean porridge of yester- day, which, being a solid mass, is sliced and eaten with salt and vinegar : during our meal a This word, generally used the ancient word for these in the plural, (to KaxaS^a, caverns ; had it been from as I should write it,) I ima- KctTaSafyov, the accent would gine to be an abbreviation of have been different. K#Ta£afa0f«, for /Sa^aS^a. was CHAP. III.] MANTINEIA. Ill our hostesses bring me a great number of coins, and I procure several more on returning to the ruins from the men and boys of the Kalyvia, who plough the corn fields which now occupy all the space within the ancient walls. Some of these are just brought to light by the plough ; the silver were all of Sicyon. They tell me that none find medals but those who work at Paleo- poli. The Hippodrome and Stadium of Mantineia, as Pausanias informs us a , were at the foot of Mount Alesium, at no great distance from the city, on the road to Tegea ; Alesium is thus identified with the projection of the range of Artemisium, which closes the vale of Pikernes on the south ; I could not however trace any remains either of the Hippodrome or Stadium. The latter must have been at least half a mile from the walls, for the temple of Neptune, near which it stood, was seven stades distant from them b . On the mountain itself there was a grove of Ceres c . I purchased from a peasant of Pikernes a curious little relique, which seems once to have been a dedication in the grove of Ceres. It is a small term surmounted with a head of Ceres, or at least with an ideal female head, having a lock of hair hanging on either a Pausan. Arcad. c. 10. c A^rpo? aAo-oj iv rZ o^». b Polyb. 1. xi. c. 14. Pausan. ibid. 112 MANTINEIA. [CHAP. III. shoulder, the usual indication of divinity ; on the neck are the words XPIHNI2 AAMATPI — Chrionis to Ceres. Mount Mcenalium y which forms a continued ridge along the western side of the plains of Tripolitza and Paleopoli, is now deeply covered with snow, amidst which appears a scattered forest of firs: the mountain for the most part is a bare white limestone. Mount Turniki, the ancient Artemisium, is of equal height, and also produces firs. Having passed the whole day at Gurtzuli, or at the ruins, employing the theodolite, sex- tant, and tape, I return by the same road to Tripolitza, where we arrive at sunset, having halted only a few minutes at the rocky point already mentioned, which projects from the Mcenalian range, — not because any thing is now to be seen here more than I before described, but because it seems quite clear to me that this was the place called Scope, where Epaminondas expired in the arms of victory, and near which his monument, erected on the spot where he fell, still remained in the time of Pausa- nias. " After proceeding", says that careful observer, " thirty stades on the road from Man- tineia to Pallantium, the grove called Pelagus is near the road ; here the cavalry of the Athe- nians and Lacedaemonians fought against that of CHAP. HI*] MANTINEIA. 113 the Boeotians, Epaminondas being wounded, was carried out of the battle. Hold- ing his hand upon the wound, and in great pain, he continued to view the engagement from the place, which was afterwards called Scope, until seeing that the combat was at an end, he withdrew his hand and expired. He was buried where the action took place. Upon the tomb stands a column*, bearing a shield, upon which a serpent is represented in relief; the serpent signifies that Epaminondas was of the race of the Sparti b . There are pillars on the monument, one of which is ancient, and bears a Boeotian epigram, the other was raised by the Emperor Hadrian, who composed d also the epigram which is upon it.'* There is no doubt that the rocky point in question was on the ancient road from Mantineia to Pallan- tium ; for Pallantium, if not upon the site of Tripolitza, must have been exactly in that di- rection from Mantineia. The wood Pelagus occupied the middle of the plain ; for the road from Mantineia to Tegea passed through it; and it is evident, from the passage just trans- lated, that the wood extended westward nearly to the Pallantium road. The space between the foot of the mountain and the forest was the place a x.nov. c trrriXat. b Those sown by Cadmus. d ewoHJ«. VOL. I. I 114 TRIPOLITZA. [CHAP. III. therefore where the cavalry of the two armies fought. The narrow opening between the two opposite mountains formed a natural limit be- tween the Mantinice and Tegeatice, and the evidence of Pausanias concurs in showing that here was the frontier of the two districts. He says, " Beyond the temple of Neptune," (which, as I have already remarked, was seven stades from the walls on the road to Tegea,) " you arrive at a place full of oaks, called Pelagus, through which leads the road from Mantineia to Tegea : the boundary between the Mantinenses and Tegeatae is an altar in the road." March 14 and 15. — Frost and snow. I measure the column-shaft, from Tegea, which stands in the corner of the gallery of the second mosque ; it tapers, is formed of a single block of white marble, and is eight feet two inches in height ; there are twenty flutings, each three inches and three quarters in the chord ; the dia- meter, therefore, is about two feet. I enter the mosque, but find nothing remarkable. The Greek bishop who resides at Tripolitza is called Bishop of Moukhla, and takes his title from a ruined town of the Lower Empire, which lies to the left of the road from Tripolitza to Argos over Mount Partheni, as the ancient Parthenium is still called. The Bishop is a suffragan of the metropolitan of Lacedsemon. CHAP. III.] TRIPOLITZA. 11.5 It is supposed by the Greeks that Moukhla was a settlement from Amyclce of Laconia, and that it was one of the three places which were united to form Tripolitza, the other two being Tegea and Mantineia; an hypothesis preferable perhaps to that which supposes Pallantium, Tegea, and Mantineia to have been the three places ; since, besides the authority of tradition in its favour, there is the consideration that even in the time of Pausanias Pallantium was supported by an- cient recollections, and had probably ceased to exist long before the foundation of Tripo- litza. March 16. — I ride out in search of Pallan- tium ; first making half the circuit of the walls of the town by going out at the Kalavry ta gate, and then turning to the left and riding round to the Londari road, or that by which I arrived on the 5th. I then leave the Londari road to the left, and ascend over the rocky roots of Mount Mce- nalium, until I come to the aqueduct which sup- plies the castle of Tripolitza ; this I follow among the gorges, until I arrive at the spring which supplies it; the source is very copious, and is situated in a little rocky hollow, re- sembling, on a small scale, the valley of the Tombs of the Kings of Thebes in Egypt, ex- cept that here a patch of corn covers the bot- tom. This, however, is not the only source i 2 116 HELISSON. [CHAP. III. that feeds the aqueduct ; it is joined by another conduit from a valley at the foot of Mount Kravari, or Boreium, on the left of the road to Londari. From the springs I ride directly up the side of one of the rocky hills, and having arrived at the summit, look down upon a small village situated among the mountains, called Sylimna, behind which, on the northern side, rises a peaked height: the fountains and rivulets around, all run into the river of Davia a : which comes from the north through a narrow valley, dividing Mount Khrepa from the ranges which follow the eastern side of the plain of Megalo- polis. The river of Davia is certainly the Helisson, one of the branches of the Alpheius ; its prin- cipal sources are at Alonistena, a. village in Mount Mamalium, on the way to Vitina. I de- scend to Sylimna; from whence, finding no ves- tiges of antiquity there, I continue the descent into the valley : then, leaving the village of Kar- teroli, and the Karitena road to the left, turn along the roots of Mount Khrepa, and arrive at a mill, supplied by a rivulet flowing directly from the southernmost summit, where, in a very lofty situation facing the south, is seen the monastery of f the All-holy Virgin upon Khrepa.' b I fol- low the mill-stream into a little retired valley * rioT«fAi t»k NTaioia?- b H IlcLvccyicc 'Asraw-XfsV*. CHAP. HI J PALLANTIUM. 117 at the foot of the Apano-Khrepa on the western side, and leaving a pyrgo, and some cottages belonging to a Turk, as well as another little Kalyvia on the left, fall into one of the roads which lead from the villages in the valley of the Helisson to Tripolitza, and which all join the Karitena road near a pass through the rocky height at the back of the city, which leads directly to the Karitena gate, or the first from the castle towards the north. I was told of a Paleokastro near Sylimna, but it proved to be nothing but a ruined church on the top of a rock. The retired valley at the western foot of Mount Khrepa could not, I think, have been very far from the site of Mamalus, though I could not hear of any remains of antiquity in that direction. As to Pallantium, it must clearly have been on the eastern side of the Maenalian ridge, for the Pallantic plain a is certainly that which I traversed in its whole length, in the road from Frangovrysi, and which terminates at the castle of Tripolitza. Thana, a village standing on the ridge which bounds the Pal- lantic valley eastward, and situated between two and three miles southward of Tripolitza, is supposed by the Greeks of the city to have once been a considerable town b , but there are a ToTldlXXut/Tty.oy TTtSiOV. Pail- b T«\a»« XPf&- san. Arcad. c. 44. 118 PALLANTIUM. [CHAP. III. scarcely any indications of Hellenic antiquity at that place, and upon the whole I am inclined to think, that Pallantium occupied a part of Tripolitza itself; which would at once account for the want of any remains of Pallantium, all such having been lost in subsequent construc- tions. The castle-hill is perhaps that, which Pausanias describes as having once been the Acropolis of Pallantium, and upon which there existed in his time a sanctuary of the gods, sur- named Cathari, or the Pure; for it is almost in- conceivable that this height, which stands at the opening of the principal pass leading from the Mantinico-Tegeatic plain over the Mcenalian range into the Megalopolitis, and in so com- manding a position with regard to the two most important of the Arcadian plains, should not have been occupied by the ancients. Pallantium was one of the oldest cities in Ar- cadia, but it had dwindled to a small town 3 when Antoninus Pius again raised it to the rank of a city, and bestowed upon it freedom and an immu- nity from tribute 5 . These favours were conferred upon Pallantium, in consideration of its having been the metropolis from whence Evander brought a colony to Rome, and from which one of the hills of Rome received the name of Pa- latine. Virgil, however, it must be observed, CHAP. III.] PALLANTIUM. 119 does not agree in this respect with Antoninus, as he supposes Evander to have come from Pheneus. Notwithstanding the emperor's pa- tronage, Pallantium scarcely revived, as seems clear from the manner in which Pausanias, who visited the place soon after its restora- tion, speaks of the Acropolis a . In the town he remarked only a temple of Pallas, with statues of Pallas and Evander in marble, a temple of Ceres and Proserpine, and near it a statue of Polybius. a tJ *o inri^ tv? woXsw? to. Pausan. Arcad. c. 44. oaa. axgowoAE* t& a^ai'ov Ep^wi 1 - CHAPTER IV. ARCADIA— LACONIA. From Tripolitza to Mistra. — Amycl/E, MeKelaium, Sparta. March 17. — I leave Tripolitza at 9 for Mistra, with one of the Pasha's Tartars, by whose as- sistance I advance at the rate of four miles and a half an hour. After losing twenty minutes, we begin at 10J to ascend the ridge, which appears, from the words of Pausanias a , to have been called Cresium ; for after observing that Choma, which was on the northern side of Mount Boreium, was the boundary of the Megalopolitae towards Pallantium and Tegea, he adds, that in pro- ceeding from thence to Tegea, Cresium was a small mountain on the right hand. The inun- dation called Taki is not far from us on the right ; the plain around this lake appears, from another part of the passage of Pausanias just re- ferred to, to have been the Manthuric b , or plain of the demus Manthurenses , it is not so well a Pausan. Arcad. c. 44. b MctiOov^w th^oc c MocvdoVpeTt;. CHAP. IV.] TO MISTRA. 121 cultivated or inhabited, nor nearly so extensive as the part of the Tegeatic plain which remains on our left. The inundation terminates in a kata- vothra, or cavern, at the foot of a perpendicu- lar cliff in Mount Kravari. There is a con- stant stream running into the mountain through the cavern, which is very conspicuous from our road, though inaccessible at this time of the year on account of the inundation. It is this cavern which gives the name of Taki to the inundation, from its arched form, the word being derived from the Persian tauk, an arch. The stream of the Taki has probably an outlet in the plain of Asea, the level of which seems to be between those of Tegea and Megalopolis. Having crossed the ridge of Cresium, we de- scend into the vale of the Saranda Potamo, a fine torrent running northward. It is joined by several streams from the steep sides of the great mountain which rises from the eastern side of the Tegeatic plain, and the snows of which are rapidly melting by the heat of this day's sun. The part of this mountain which was crossed on the road from Tegea to Argos was called Parthenium. Its prolongation southward forms a continuous ridge with the mountains on the eastern side of Laconia. The Saranda Potamo disappears under the rocks to our right, near the place we first came upon it. From this pecu- 122 TO MISTRA. [CHAP. IV. liarity it is evidently the Alpheius, for Pausanias a thus describes the road I am following : " On the road from Tegea into the Laconice, at the distance of two stades from the city, there is an altar of Pan on the left of the road, and another of Jupiter Lycseus j there are foundations also of the temples of those deities. Seven stades farther stands a temple of Diana Limnatis, with a statue of ebony, of the workmanship which the Greeks called 2Eginaean b . Ten stades from thence are the ruins of the temple of Diana Cna- teatis c . The Alpheius forms the boundary be- tween the Tegeatae and Lacedaemonians : its source is at Phylace, not far from which a stream rising from many small fountains flows into it, and gives to the place of junction the name of "ZvpQoXct, or the Confluence. The Alpheius differs very much in its nature from other rivers, for it often hides itself and appears again. Flow- ing from Phylace and the Symbola, it descends into the earth in the Tegeatice, then rising again in the Asaea," &c. Were it not for the announcement of the a Pausan. Arcad. c. 53, 54. change 'aaeoS to iir 'AXQuov, b Tf07ro5 das igyao-'iKi; b Alyt- which is so much the more i/ai'oj KuXovptvot; iiro 'ewwuv. probable, as the distance of The text of Pausanias is nineteen stades agrees very defective in this passage. we ll with that of the river Sylburgius, in the words Saranda, from the site of 'a§t£/x»&>s KvxTtanSoc, \aTw Tegea. Afoo? t« l^tinKn, proposed to CHAP. IV.] TO MISTRA. 128 road in the beginning of this passage, it might be doubtful which of the two subterraneous rivers of the Tegeatice (or rather of the southern part of the Tegeatice, for there is a third near the modern Persova, at the foot of Mount Par- thenium) was the true Alpheius, but Pausanias was following the direct road to Sparta, which, from the nature of the country, could have been no other than the modern route from Tripolitza to Mistra ; and he had already spoken, in his route from Megalopolis by Asea to Tegea, of the Manthuric plain, the waters of which flow into the mountain at the Taki, though he has not noticed that subterraneous discharge. We follow up the ravine of the Saranda Po- tamo, closely confined between rocky hills, and frequently cross the river, till at 12.20 we arrive at a Khan which is named Krya Vrysis, cold spring, from a neighbouring copious source, the stream from which is joined by a river from the mountain to the eastward. The Krya Vry- sis appears to be what Pausanias calls the source of the Alpheius, and the eastern branch that which he designates as originating in many small fountains. The confluence of the two was the Symbola. As Phylace was not far from the source of the Alpheius and the Symbola, it could not have been very distant from the mo- dern Krya Vrysi, but I do not observe any re- 124 TO MISTRA. [CHAP. IV. mains of antiquity. Phylace and the course of the eastern branch of the Alpheius, seem to have formed the frontier line of the Tegeatice and Laconice. Having halted ten minutes, we proceed along the ravine, with rocks on either side, but soon turn out of it to the east, and then, regaining the former direction, pass at 1.40 through a narrow strait called the Stenuri \ Ver- vena b , a village in the Vilayeti of Aios Petros is seen on the left, in a lofty situation under Mount Malevo c , as the highest part of this range is called. It is in the vicinity of Verve- na that the small streams have their origin, which unite to compose the eastern branch of the Alpheius. From the Stenuri we descend into a small plain, in which are many wild pear trees d , and pass from thence through some narrow ravines and rocks, where two men could hardly march abreast, until, at 3.20, we arrive in the midst of this difficult country, at a Derveni, or guard-house, from whence appears on the left, on the southern slope of Mount Malevo, the village of Arakhova 6 , belonging to the Mistra Kazasi, or Vilayeti of Mistra. a to "ZTivovgi. also to a summit of the range Bsp/Sfva. f Taygetum northward of c This name, which like Mistra, and sometimes to Ar- so many others in the Morea tefnisium. is, as I have already hinted, <» o^Aa^a. of Slavonic origin, is applied c 'A§«;£o£a. CHAP. IV.] TO MISTRA. 125 At 4 we arrive at the Khan of Krevata, so called from a Greek family of Mistra, one of whom built it ; below it, on the east, is a little stream, and a few Kalambokki grounds : the waters flow to the Eurotas. We halt twenty minutes at the Khan, and then proceed over the same kind of mountains till 5, when, at the rise of one of them, the magnificent range of Taygetum presents itself to view, and Mistra is seen on a steep height, under the middle of it. The view of the plain before Mistra, in which Sparta was situated, is intercepted by the lower roots of the northern part of Taygetum. We continue descending the long slope of the Ma- levo range, enjoying occasionally a view of Mistra, of Mount Taygetum, and of the continua- tion of that range to the northward of Mistra, on the face of which are seen the large villages of Longastra, Bordhonia, and Ghiorghitza. At 6.15 we enter the ravine of a winter tor- rent coming from the east, and at 6.20 cross the Kelafina, a wide, deep, and rapid stream, just above a small island j one of the loaded horses falls twice in the stream. Proceed along its left bank into the valley of the Iri, or Euro- tas, cross that river at 6.35, and soon after enter among the roots of Taygetum, which, ad- vancing to the eastward, terminate on the north side of Sparta, so nearly meeting the opposite 126 MISTRA. [CHAP. IV. range, of which we have been following the slopes, as to leave only a space for a narrow valley, in which the Kelafina joins the Iri, just above the site of Sparta. After passing for a short distance through the hills, we re-enter the plain, and arrive at Mistra at 7-35. The last hour and a half has not been performed at so quick a rate as the rest. The whole distance from Tripolitza is about forty-two miles by the road. The voivoda assigns me a lodging at the metropolitan bishop's. March 18th. Mistra and Argos being an ap- panage of the sultan's sister a , are under a voi- voda sent from Constantinople, who accounts to the sultan for the revenue of the district, and is local governor, subject to the general government of the pasha. He has two Greek assessors, who arrange all details of the collec- tion. The person at present residing here, is only Vekil, or deputy of the sultana's chief agent, who is shortly expected from Constanti- nople. I visit this morning the acting voivoda and the kadi. The latter says, " the people here like me so well, that they are going to build me a new house, and I shall therefore remain with them." It seems they have lately built one for the voivoda, and that the kadi's speech was directed to a Greek, who, as being a Salona is another of the same sultana's appanages. CHAP. IV.] MISTRA. 127 agent of the English consul at Patra, had ac- companied me in the visit, and who being also one of the chiefs of the Greek community, might have great influence in promoting the kadi's wish for a new house. I ride up to the Castle of Mistra, and pass the rest of the morning at that important geo- graphical station. The castle seems never to have been very formidably fortified, though it is strong by its position and great height ; it is about five hundred feet above the level of the plain; the hill on three sides is extremely steep; on the fourth, or southern side, it is perpendicu- lar, and separated from another similar rock by the torrent Pandeleimona, so called from a mo- nastery Tov UocvTsXerifAovos towards its sources. This stream divides the town into two parts, tumbling over a rocky bed, like the Hercina at Livadhia ; a little below the town it joins an- other rivulet which rises to the northward, near the village of Varsova : the united stream joins the Eurotas, to the southward of Sparta. There are still the remains of some fine cisterns in the castle. The view from thence is of the utmost beauty and interest; the mountains to the north, east, and south, are spread before the spectator from Artemisium, on the confines oFArgolis and Arcadia, to the island of Cythera inclusive, together with a small part of the Lacofiic gulf, 128 MISTRA. [CHAP. IV. just within that island. All the plain of Sparta is in view, except the south-west corner near Bardhunia, which is concealed by a projection of Mount Taygetum. Towards the mountain the scene is equally grand, though of a different nature. A lofty summit of Taygetum, immedi- ately behind the castle, three or four miles dis- tant, is clothed with a forest of firs, and now deeply covered with snow ; the nearer slopes of the mountain are variegated with the vineyards, corn-fields, and olive plantations belonging to the villages of Barsiniko, and Vlakhokhori % situated on opposite sides of the ravine of the Pandeleimona, which winds from the southward in the direction of the highest summit of Tay- getum. This remarkable peak is not much in- ferior in height to Olono, or any of the highest points of the Peloponnesus, and is more con- spicuous than any, from its abrupt sharpness. I cannot learn at Mistra any modern name for it, except the very common one of Ai Elia, or Saint Elias, who, like Apollo of old, seems to delight in the protection of lofty summits. A cultivated tract of country, similar to that about Barseniko and Vlakhokhori, occupies the middle region of Taygetum through its whole length ; it is concealed from the great plain by a chain of rocky heights which immediately CHAP. IV.] MISTRA. 12# overhang the plain, and of which the Castle-hill of Mistra is one. Like that hill they terminate in steep slopes or in abrupt precipices, some of which are almost twice as high as the Castle of Mistra, though they appear insignificant when compared with the snowy peaks of Taygetum behind them. They are intersected and sepa- rated from one another by the rocky gorges of several torrents which have their origin in the great summits, and which, after crossing the up- per cultivated region, issue through those gorges into the plain, and then traversing its whole breadth join the Eurotas flowing under the eastern hills. This abrupt termination of Tay- getum, extending all the way from the Castle of Mistra, inclusive, to the extremity of the plain, forms the chief peculiarity in the scenery of Sparta and its vicinity. Whether seen in pro- file, contrasted with the richness of the plain, or in front with the majestic summits of Taygetum rising above it, this long gigantic bank presents a variety of the sublimest and most beautiful scenery, such as we hardly find equalled in any part of picturesque Greece itself. One of the most delightful spots in this scene is the village of Perori, a little to the southward of Mistra, where the mosque and houses inter- spersed amidst gardens are traversed by a rapid stream like the Pandeleimona, which issues from VOL. I. K 130 MISTRA. [CHAP. IV. a stupendous rocky opening behind the village. It would seem, that in the time of Coronelli this village was connected with Mistra, and formed a part of the southern quarter then called Exokhori. The southern part of the town is still named Misokhori ; the part occupied by the Metropoli, under which name the cathedral and bishop's house are comprised, is Katokhori : the houses are so much dispersed, that the town occu- pies a mile and a half along the foot of the hill, though there are not altogether more than 1000 houses, of which about a fourth are Turkish. Katokhori alone, together with another quarter now deserted, called Kastro, on the north-eastern side of the castle above Katokhori, once contain- ed an equal number, but they were destroyed during the insurrection of 1770, or after that event, and their ruins only are now left, occupy- ing a space equal to that of the present inhabit- ed town. When the Albanian army was de- stroyed or driven out of the Peninsula, there still remained the old Albanian colony of Bardhunia, the Maniates, and the hungry Pashas of the Mo- rea, to plunder Mistra in succession ; and it was not until the Turkish fleet had reduced Mani to terms, that the Porte had the power of af- fording the place any protection. The remains of the house of Krevata, once the richest family in the Morea, but which is now extinct, in con- CHAP. IV.] MTSTRA. 131 sequence of having been tempted by the Rus- sians to engage in the insurrection, are seen in Katokhori, between the Metropoli and the river Pandeleimona. The Krevata, who joined the insurrection, fled into Mani on its failure, and died there. March 19. — I visit some of the chief Greeks, in company with the English agent. There are still some men of property both landed and commercial, and the place is at length re- covering from the effects of the Russian insur- rection ; new buildings are rising in many parts of the town. Before the year 1770, Mistra often exported 50,000 okes of silk per an- num ; the export now amounts, in good years, to half that quantity, sent to Mothoni for Tu- nis, to Patra for Europe, or to Anapli for Khi6 a and Constantinople. The olive plantations around the town of Mistra alone produce, in good years, 50,000 barrels of oil of forty-eight okes, of which from 5000 to 10,000 are exported ; the rest is consumed in the Morea. The oil is said by the Mistriotes to be the best in the Peninsula ; I saw some quite colourless : the merchants buy it from the planters at forty to fifty-five paras the Botzaof twenty okes. In the alternate years, when the olive crop is generally deficient, the price is a Chius. K 2 132 MISTRA. [CHAP. IV. higher. A new tax of a para an oke has lately been laid upon oil. Every large house has a cistern attached to it for holding the oil, where it is kept until sold. Velanidhi a and prinokok- ki b are gathered in large quantities on Mount Taygetum ; the former is found entirely within the government of the Bey of Mani, and he enjoys a monopoly of it. The prinokokki is purchased from the peasants at fifteen to twenty piastres the oke, and is shipped at Marathonisi for Tunis and Leghorn ; at Tunis it is chiefly used in dyeing the Feshes, or red skull caps, which in every part of Turkey are worn under the turban, or head shawl. The other produc- tions of the Mistra Kazasi are similar to those of the other parts of the Peninsula. The Greeks complain of the weight of the kharatj, or capi- tation, and of the avarisi, or tax on moveable property; both of which being exacted as if there were 8500 persons liable to them, where- as there are only 3000, each person pays in the proportion of 2|ths. Mr. V. D. our agent, tells me that he pays 500 piastres a Italicc, Vallonea. BO a- v-ow, sometimes pronounced i/lh, from Batatvo;, the acorn of n^vo-or noi^o-aox.y.n, or-xovxi, the quercus aegilops, a pow- is the kermes, or red dye ga- erful astringent, used in tan- thered from the holly-leaved ning and dyeing. oak, (quercus coccifera.) b Jtdlice, Vormiglio. n^.o- CHAP. IV.] MISTRA. 13S a-year for imposts of all kinds. He was lately subjected to an avania of 1000 piastres, the Pasha having been informed that he was ship- ping grain at Marathonisi contrary to the order of the Porte, which itself monopolizes the grain of this district. According to a recent firm- aim, the Greeks of Mistra are allowed to repair their churches on condition of paying 300 pias- tres for each to a mosque at Constantinople. March 20. — Having heard of some antiquities at Sklavokhori, which the learned of Mistra consider the site of the ancient Amyclae, I set out for that place at 9.25. At 9.40 pass Perori, and at 10 ride through Aianni % which, like Perori, has a picturesque mosque, a fine stream running through it, and some good gardens. It stands nearer to the precipices than Perori, and the river does not come through an open- ing in the rocks from the upper Taygetum, but rises in the village itself. At 10g cross another stream which flows through a rocky gorge from the elevated hollow included between the sum- mits of Taygetum and the heights which border the plain. At 11.10 cross another rivulet flow- ing from another opening in the precipitous heights j and at 11.20 arrive in the village of Sklavokhori, which is situated half a mile from a St. John. 134 SKLAVOKHORI. [CHAP. IV. the foot of the mountain midway between two openings. Eight or nine ruined churches shew the former importance of Sklavokhori ; of houses there are not at present more than thirty, much dispersed. In a church dedicated to the sleep (i. e. the death) of the Virgin a , I find three columns with Doric capitals, one of which is of grey granite ; one of the capitals is of the spreading kind, with an echi- nus forming a very acute angle with the plinth, like the Doric capitals of Sicily and Paestum, — those of the others are much more obtuse 5 on the outside of the church there is a broken column with an inscription. In other chapels I find some Ionic capitals of white marble, and some frag- ments of inscriptions, one of which contains the letters amyka, which seem to have belonged to the word Amyclas, though I do not think the posi- tion of Sklavokhori will agree with the idea given of that of Amyclae by Polybius and Pausanias, according to whom that place was much nearer to the Eurotas and to Sparta. A chapel of St. Elias contains two curious marbles' 5 , represent- ing in relief, in a hollow compartment, various articles of female apparel and ornament; slip- a ij aoi^Yia-n; rrij Tlavccyiocq. Earl of Aberdeen, see the b For a particular descrip- Memoirs on Greece, edited tion of these marbles by the by the Rev. R. Walpolc. CHAP. IV.] SKLAVOKHOKI. 135 pecs, bonnets, combs, mirrors, &c. In the centre of each there is an inscription, as follows : ANQoXCH -o „ -* AAMA/N€ToY V. "* *^ YTToCTATPlA The forms of the characters in the first inscrip- tion would seem to indicate a greater antiquity than those in the latter, which is confirmed by the dialectic difference between them. Mr. V. D. lias constructed a car, for the purpose of con- veying this stone to the coast, for Lord A. Mis- tra is the only place I have yet seen in Greece where cars are used ; they serve chiefly for transporting the barrels of oil. They are merely a rough frame-work upon two solid trucks, and closely resemble those in use in several of the plains of Asia Minor. From Sklavokhori I ride to Aia Kyriaki, St. Sunday, a church standing on a height half a mile from the Eurotas, nearly in the centre of the plain as to its length. I here perceive that the heights, at the north-eastern extremity of the plain upon which Sparta stood, are a part of a chain of low hills following the course of the Eurotas through the whole length of the plain of Mistra, and separating the latter from the lower level of the vale of the Eurotas, leav- ing openings only for the streams which descend 136 AIA KYRIAKI. [CHAP. IV. from Mount Taygetum into the Eu rotas. Aia Kyriaki and another summit farther south are the only eminences of any considerable height in this little chain, which is not readily distin- guishable from the opposite side of the plain. Nothing is now to be seen at Aia Kyriaki but two imperfect inscriptions, in one of which are the letters amy following the name aeeiima- xoy and leaving little doubt, that the incom- plete word was amykaaioy. As far as this evi- dence goes, therefore, St. Kyriaki has as good pretensions to be considered the site of Amy- clge as Sklavokhori. The numerous churches still existing at the latter place either entire or in ruins, shew that it was once a Chris- tian town of considerable importance, and its name appears to indicate that it was the prin- cipal settlement of the Slavonic colonists of the Laconice in the middle ages a ; it is very pro- bable, therefore, that at the time when Sklavo- khori was populous, the fragments of antiquity now found in the churches were brought thither from Sparta, or the other ancient sites in the neighbourhood ; for although the modern Greek masons are great destroyers of the remains of a Names of Slavonic origin Bilova, Selitza, Arakhova, are as numerous around Mis- Vrestena, Tzitzena, Polo- tra as in any part of the Bio- vitza, &c. rea ; as Varsova (Warsaw), CHAP. IV.] AIA KYIUAKr. 137 antiquity, the more lettered classes, who have some respect for the ancient fame of the nation, are in the habit of preserving inscribed or sculp- tured stones by depositing them in the churches or private houses. Aia Kyriaki commands a fine view of the plain and surrounding heights. From near the opposite side of the Eurotas, rises a steep bank surmounted at the height of 500 or 600 feet by a plain or table-land, beyond which there is an uneven country, intersected with ravines and rivers, which rises gradually to Mount Parnon and the other great summits of the eastern range ; it contains large tracts of cultivated land and many villages, of which I had a good view from the castle of Mistra. This steep bank or bluff termination of the eastern range above the left bank of the Eurotas is another remarkable feature in the scenery of the country around Sparta ; though inferior in height to some of the magnificent precipices which form a similar termination of Mount Taygetum, it shews, when taken together with them, the pro- priety of the term KoiXn Kcczz^at^av applied by Homer to the plain of Sparta, and to the city itself, which is well described also by Strabo as situated lv xoihortga XP^iu. In most parts there is a level space between the great eastern bank and the Eurotas, but in one spot, a little south 138 AMYCLiE. fCHAP. IV. of the southern extremity of Sparta, it is washed by the river. It was upon this part of the height that stood the suburb of Sparta called Menelaium. The situation as well of Amyclae and Mene- laium as of Sparta itself, is nowhere so well de- scribed as in the narrative by Polybius a of the expedition of Philip, son of Demetrius, in con- junction with Aratus and the Achaians, against Sparta in the Social War, b. c. 218. Philip having overrun iEtolia, and retaliated upon its capital, Therm us, for the barbarous hostilities of the iEtolians against Dium and Dodona, moved at first northward to the extremity of the Am- bracian Gulf, from whence he sailed in the course of a night to Leucas. From Leucas he sailed to Corinth ; whence, after despatching messengers to summon his Peloponnesian allies to meet him with their forces at Tegea, he marched on the first day to Argos, and on the second to Tegea, where he was joined by Aratus and the Achaian troops. From Tegea he made a cir- cuitous march through the mountains on the north-east of Laconia, and on the fourth day from Corinth and the seventh from iEtolia, suddenly made his appearance, to the astonished Spartans, on the hills which overlook their city. Leaving Mount Menelaium on his right hand, a Polyb. 1. v. c. 16; ct seq. CHAP. IV.] AMYCL^. 139 he moved forwards, and encamped at Amyclse. " Amyclae", adds the historian, "is a place in the Laconice, remarkable for the abundance of its trees and its fertility a ; it is distant about twenty stades from Lacedaemon on the side to- wards the sea." Philip then proceeded to over- run the whole country to the southward, pene- trating even as far as the extreme points of Asine, Taenarus, and Boese, from which last he returned to Amyclae. Lycurgus, the king of Sparta, had meantime obtained an advantage over the Messenians, who, unable to reach Te- gea before the king had passed through that place, had endeavoured to join him by march- ing through the Argeia into the Laconice, when, having been suddenly attacked by Lycur- gus at the Glympeis b , on the frontier of the two provinces, they fled with the loss of their bag- gage, and retired home again through the country of Argos. Lycurgus, on his return from this excursion, occupied Menelaium and its vicinity with 2000 men, and gave orders to the remaining forces in the city to be ready upon a given signal, to march out and draw up along the bank of the Eurotas, in the narrow space between the river and the city. Poly- bius then describes the situation of Sparta as follows : " Although Sparta," he says, " con- 140 amycljE. [chap. iv. sidered in its general appearance a , is of a cir- cular form, and situated in a plain, yet within it contains several rising grounds and hills b . On the eastern side c flows the Eurotas, which for the greater part of the year is so large as not to be fordable. To the south-east of the city d are the hills upon which stands Mene- laium. They are rough, lofty, and difficult of ascent, and they command entirely all the ground between the river and the city ; for the river takes its course along the very border of these heights, and the whole space from the foot of the hills to Sparta does not exceed a stade and a half in breadth. Such was the defile along which Philip, as he returned (northward), must be forced to pass, having on his left hand the city. The Lacedaemonians had more- over, by diverting the river above the straits, inundated the ground between the city and the hills, with the view that neither the ca- valry nor infantry of the enemy should find a secure footing there, but that being obliged to march close under the mountain in a long file, and unable to afford each other assistance, they should thus be exposed to the Lacedaemonians. Philip, upon perceiving this arrangement, de- a tw xaGoXou o-p^juaTS. c wgoj ooi»ro>.cc<;. b cuiwp.u.Xovs net) fioviudiK; t>); tcoAews naroc. ^u^igntx; totto u<;. «f«TaA«j. CHAP. IV.] AMYCLiE. 141 termined upon driving Lycurgus from Mene- laium, for which purpose, taking with him the mercenaries, the peltastae, and the Illyrians, he crossed the river (from Amyclse). Lycurgus prepared to receive him (on Menelaium), and at the same time sent orders to his forces in the city to be ready on seeing the signal to march out, and deploy under the walls with the ca- valry on the right. The success of Philip was complete ; he killed 100 of the enemy, and forced all the remainder to take refuge in the city, except a small number in company with Lycurgus, who, after a circuitous route, entered Sparta in the following night. Philip then left his Illyrians in possession of the heights of Mene- laium, and was returning to his camp with the light-armed 3 and peltastae, when Aratus having in the mean time advanced from AmyclaB with the phalanx (along the left bank of the river) nearly to the city, Philip crossed to the right bank with the light-armed, the peltastse, and cavalry, to observe the enemy, and effect a di- version until the phalanx should have passed through the defile (at the foot of Menelaium). An action took place, the peltastae particularly distinguished themselves, and the Lacedaemo- nian horse was driven back to the gates : after 142 AMYCLJE. [CHAP. IV. which, Philip recrossed the Eurotas without im- pediment, and covered the rear-guard of the phalanx. Night then coming on, he halted near the (northern) opening of the pass a . No position (observes Polybius) could be more ad- vantageous than this for a hostile attempt against Laconia from Tegea, or from any other part of the interior of Peloponnesus ; for it is not only the key of the passes leading into Laconia, but, though situated close to the river, and only two stades distant from the city, it is well protected on that side by an inaccessible mountain, above which there is a level, fertile, and well watered country, affording great faci- lities to an army either for access or retreat. Philip, however, declined remaining here : but next day, after sending forward his baggage, he drew out his army in the plain, and having remained a short time in sight of the city, then moved by his right 5 towards Sellasia. Here he halted for the night, and the next morning, after having viewed the scene of action at Sel- lasia between the hills Eva and Olympus, where Cleomenes and Antigonus had fought, he pro- ceeded towards Tegea, taking care to have a strong rear-guard. At Tegea he ordered the plunder from Laconia to be sold, and then returned through Argos to Corinth." CHAP. IV.] AMYCL.E. 14S From this narrative of Polybius it clearly ap- pears, that Amyclae stood about two miles and a half from Sparta, near the right bank of the Eurotas, a situation in perfect agreement with what Xenophon a says of Amyclae in describing the invasion of Laconia by Epaminondas, after the battle of Leuctra, on that memorable occa- sion when Agesilaus lived to see his former proud saying confuted, that no Spartan woman had ever seen the smoke of an enemy's fire b . In this instance, the Thebans and their Peloponne- sian allies descended from Sellasia into the plain immediately opposite to Sparta (the same nar- row level on the left bank of the Eurotas in which Philip drew out his army as a challenge to the Lacedaemonians before he retired). Epa- minondas perceiving a large body of the enemy at the Sanctuary of Minerva Alea on the oppo- site side of the Eurotas, did not pass over the bridge, but withdrawing his forces marched for- ward with the river on his right hand, burning and destroying, until he arrived near Amyclae, when he crossed the river, and encamped. Here the Thebans strengthened their position by fell- ing trees and laying them before their ranks, a precaution which their Arcadian allies neglected. On the third or fourth day all the cavalry ad- a Xenoph. Hellen. l.vi. c. 5. \a%a.x.t voxi^ov. Plutarch in " oTi yvw Aocy.ot.ivoc. koczvov ovx. Agesil. 144 AMYCLJE. [CHAP. IV. vanced to the Hippodrome and Temple of Nep- tune Gaeauchus, where they were met by the La- cedaemonian horse supported by 300 infantry, who had been placed in a concealed position at the sanctuary of the Tyndaridee. The manoeuvre was successful, and the Thebans were forced to retreat to their camp. From thence they under- took a march of spoliation against Helos and Gythium, soon after which a movement of the Athenians in aid of the Lacedaemonians, the defection of some of the allies, a want of provi- sions, and the approach of winter, obliged Epa- minondas to retire out of Laconia." I think it must be evident from these two extracts, that Amyclae was not far from Aia Kyriaki. That hill indeed is more distant from what appears to have been the southern extre- mity of Sparta than the words of Polybius war- rant ; but as we find that there were some buildings or other places to the south of Sparta which must have occupied a considerable space of ground, such as the Hippodrome, the Phce- baeum, and the temples of Gseauchus and the TyndaridaB ; and on the other hand, as Amyclae seems, from the description of it by Polybius, to have been dispersed among gardens and plant- ations, it may easily be conceived that, at the time treated of by Polybius, the distance be- tween the nearest points of the southern suburb CHAP. IV.] AMYCL.&. 145 of Sparta and of Amyclae may not have been greater than two miles and a half. I think, therefore, that notwithstanding its distance, the hill of Aia Kyriaki, being such a commanding position as the early Greeks usually chose for their towns, may have been the site of the more ancient Amyclae, which, though it became a mere dependency of Sparta in after ages, was one of the cities of the Laconice at the time of the Trojan war, and until the Doric conquest. Pausanias a describes Amyclae as a koj{a?j, or small town. He adds, that the Tiasa, so called from a daughter of Eurotas, flowed between Sparta and Amyclae. Midway between the southern extremity of the site of Sparta and Aia Kyriaki, a river formed from the junction of the streams of Mistra, Perori, Ai Ianni, and another, falls into the Eurotas, and not only corresponds perfectly to the Tiasa of Pausanias, but explains also the cause of that fertility and luxuriance of vegeta- tion about Amyclae which Polybius has noticed. Polybius b describes the temple of Apollo at Amyclae as not inferior in celebrity to any in Laconia . On the way thither from Sparta, Pausanias d observed, on the bank of the Tiasa, a a Pausan. Lacon. c. 19. (pocvto-Tcnov \v rv JS.xx.uv »x»j. b Polyb. 1. v. c. 19. d Pausan. Lacon. c. 18. c te'|u.£vo; .... a^.dov f7rt- VOL. I. L 146 AMYCLiE. [CHAP. IV. temple of the Graces, named Phaenna and Cleta. At Amyclae, near the temple of Apollo, there was a figure, upon a pillar, of JEnetus, who died in the moment of being crowned for a pentathlic victory at Olympia, and five brazen tripods, of which the three most ancient were said to have been dedicated from the tenth of the spoils of Messenia ; the others, which were of larger size, from those of the victory at iEgospotami. To the lower part of each tripod a was affixed a sta- tue. Two of the ancient tripods, with the sta- tues of Venus and Diana attached to them, were the work of Gitiadas ; the third, with the statue of Proserpine, was by Gallon of ^Egina. On the fourth tripod was represented Sparta with a lyre in her hand, by Aristandrus. On the fifth was a Venus, by Polycleitus. The statue of Apollo Amyclaeus was a work of the rudest and most ancient kind, and resembled, with the ex- ception of the face, hands, and feet, a column of brass b between forty and fifty feet high. It had a helmet on the head, and in the hands a spear and a bow. The pedestal of the statue was formed like an altar c , and was supposed to be the tomb of Hyacinthus ; both this and the a i/tto TU T£i7ro£i — the Statue b x ' iayi yaXxui. probably formed one of the c |3a6pox aa^s'p^ETa* Qu^oi/ legs. o-;cV"- CHAP. IV.] AIA KYRIAKI. 147 throne 3 were adorned with a profusion of works in relief) but the latter was by far the more re- markable monument, and was the work of Ba- thycles, who had himself dedicated two statues of Graces in the temple, and another of Diana Leucophryene, the patroness of his native city, Magnesia on the Maeander. Besides the temple of Apollo, Amyclae contained a temple of Alex- andra, daughter of Priam, in which were statues of Alexandra, of Clyta^mnestra, and of Aga- memnon. At Aia Kyriaki I met with a peasant b of Ri- viotissa, a small village in the plain, who gave me the following information. The reputed owner of the land which he cultivates as zevga- lates c , or metayer, is Stathi, Protosyngelo d of the bishoprick, who resides at the Metropoli as one of the bishop's officers. Out of a crop of twenty-one kilos, he pays three to the voivoda for dhekatia, six to Stathi for rent, and reserves the rest to himself ; he is at all the expense of stock and labour : the same manner of farming the land occurs in the culture of every kind of a The throne of Amyclse, M. Quatremere de Quincy in which seems to have been one his work called Le Jupiter of the most elaborate works Olympien. in Greece, has been a subject b ^apia-rn?. c £evyuXa,TVf. of particular investigation by d wptoToo-uyx^Xos. Heyne, and more recently by L 2 148 LACONIA. [CHAP. IV. grain, whether wheat 3 , barley b , maize c , or spring wheat (dhiminio d ). The greater part of the land on the banks of the Eurotas is culti- vated in dhiminio, for which they are now ploughing and sowing ; it is watered artificially by canals from the Eurotas, or by means of the streams which descend from Mount Taygetum. Wheat, in the common way, is sown in No- vember and December. In the Kefalokhoria in the mountains near the sources of the streams, the dhiminio ripens without irrigation on ac- count of the coolness of the climate, the greater quantity of rain in summer, and the superior quality of the land, but of course it is not reap- ed so early as in the plain j there also they have spring barley 6 , which they have not in the plain. The soil of the plain is described to me, as being in general a poor mixture of white clay and stones, difficult to plough, and better suited to olives than corn ; and such it appeared to me, except near Mistra and on the banks of the Eu- rotas. Thus it answers exactly to the words of Euripides f , who, contrasting Laconia with Mes- senia, describes the former as a poor land g in a o-ixapt. b xf »0ap». e xp'Sa'pt Sty-wion. c v.aXa.p.'icoy.Y.x. f Ap. Strabon. p. 336. d tSi/AYiviov, corn of two 6 q>uv>.ov xQovo*;. months. CHAP. IV.] LACONIA. 149 which there is much arable, but difficult to work*. The women of Mistra and the plain are taller and more robust than the other Greeks, have more colour in general, and look healthier ; which agrees also with Homer's AccxsduifAova, x,uXXfyvvoc(x.cc. CHAPTER V. LACONIA. Sparta. — Therapne. — BrysEjE. March 21. — Set out at ^.55 for Sparta, riding directly down the hill from the Metropoli to the left bank of the river of Pandeleimona. At 8.8 begin to follow its left bank ; at 8.10 the road to Longastra turns off to the left; at 8.15 join the Tripolitza road ; at 8.22 cross the stream from Varsova and Kyparissia, where it joins the former ; at 8.25 leave the Tripolitza road to the left ; at 8.38 cross a bridge over the river of Trypi. Half a mile below the bridge stands a church of St. Irene, in the wall of which there is the trunk of a statue, and within the church an inscription in honour of a pancra- tiast. Near it is a ruined casino of Krevata. At the bridge, where I halted five minutes, I was overtaken by the voivoda, going to keep order at the paneghyri, or fair, which is held to- day at Magula, as the ruins of Sparta are called. He tells me that last year two boys were mur- dered at this bridge by drunken Turks returning from the fair. At 9 I arrive at the aqueduct of Sparta, where CHAP. V.] SPARTA. 151 a road towards Tzakonia turns off to the left. The remains of the aqueduct are traced across the valley which separates the heights of Sparta from the branch, or long counterfort, of Mount Taygetum, which I mentioned in our approach to Mistra ; a small rivulet from an opening in the mountain flows along the valley into the Eurotas : the aqueduct is again traceable far- ther up the valley ; it appears to be contemporary with the walls which inclose the largest of the heights upon which Sparta stood. There is an- other monument, apparently of the same date as the walls and aqueduct on the slope towards the Eurotas. This is a circus, the smallest per- haps in existence, being only twenty-three yards in diameter within. But when Sparta was re- duced to the hill which is now surrounded with the Roman wall, this circus may have been quite large enough for the diminished population. The wall of the circus is sixteen feet thick, and was supported by large buttresses on the out- side at small distances from one another, a con- struction which seems to have been intended for a considerable height of wall, as well as for a great weight within, though not a vestige of seats is now to be seen. The entrance to the circus was on the side towards the river. Be- low the circus are some remains of a bridge over the Eurotas. 152 SPARTA. [CHAP. V. The hills alluded to by Polybius, upon which Sparta was built, formed towards the Eurotas an irregular line of a mile and a half from the valley on the north, which separated them from the above-mentioned branch of Taygetum, to the south-eastern extremity of the site where the Eurotas is joined by a brisk little stream, which is now called Trypiotiko, from its origin near Trypi a , a large village in the Taygetan range, to the northward of Mistra. These hills present a very varied outline from the river, and are di- vided into four separate heights. Eirst, begin- ning from the north, there is a small insulated hill with a flat summit, as high, if not higher, than any other part of the site ; it stands be- tween the north-east end of the large height and the junction of the northern rivulet with the Eu- rotas. Secondly, the principal height ; it is en- tirely surrounded with the ruins of Roman walls, except the western extremity, which is occupied by the theatre ; at the opposite or eastern ex- tremity of this height, stands the ruined circus, at about one-third of the distance from the northern rivulet to the southern, or Trypiotiko. This largest hill of Sparta has a very broken out- line and several summits, but the basis of them all is an irregular level, which is elevated forty or fifty feet above the marshy plain on the side of a Tevvy, cavern. CHAP. V.] SPARTA. 153 the Eurotas, and presents a bank of that eleva- tion towards the river. The third and fourth of the Spartan hills lie between the circus and the village of Psykhiko, which stands at the foot of the last height on the south side, and not very far from the Trypiotiko. These two summits rest on the same table-land already mentioned ; for the last half mile, towards the junction of the Trypiotiko, they terminate north-eastward, in a precipice of about thirty feet high. In con- sequence of the difference of level between the plateau of Sparta, upon which the several sum- mits just mentioned are based, and the plain on the bank of the Eurotas, as well as by means of a general slope towards the west and south, the hills of Sparta present a higher profile towards the river than in any other direction. The level between the heights and the Eurotas is narrow- est at the south-eastern extremity of the site, where it is about fifty yards wide ; it is narrowed also, though not so much, below the circus, above and below which it swells into a plain of a quarter of a mile in breadth, inclosed between the hills and the right bank of the river. The only villages on the site of Sparta are Magula and Psykhiko \ Magula is a tjiftlik belonging to a Turk of Mistra, and contains a small pyrgo, with three or four huts situated 1.54 SPARTA. [CHAP. V. amidst gardens. Magula is a Greek name often applied to a height with ruins, especially when they are in a plain : it is hence given generally to the site of Sparta, though specifically to the tjiftlik. Psykhiko has fourteen or fifteen cot- tages, including a kalyvia or dependent hamlet, which is situated about 300 yards to the north- eastward of Psykhiko, on the edge of the cliff just mentioned, immediately above a source of water, which, issuing from under the cliff, fol- lows its foot for some distance, and then crosses the level and joins the Eurotas about 300 yards above the junction of the Trypiotiko. Thus, above that junction there is a low meadow sur- rounded on three sides by a running stream, and on the fourth by the cliffs at the south- eastern extremity of the table-land of Sparta. The inclosed space is planted with mulberries, growing among fields of dhiminio, or spring corn. This is probably the position of the Plata- nistas, which both Pausanias and Lucian a de- scribe as a place surrounded by water. All the level parts of the site of Sparta are cultivated with corn. The only considerable relics of Hellenic workmanship are, 1. The theatre, the remains of which are daily decreasing, as it serves for a stone quarry to Mistra and the surrounding ;i Pausan. Lacon. c. 14. Lucian, Anachars. c. 38. CHAP. V.] SPARTA. 155 country. In the cavea I perceived only a few fragments of seats ; but the enormous masses of masonry which supported the two extremities of the cavea still subsist ; they are built of qua- drangular stones, which are not so large as those usually employed by the Greeks in similar con- structions, and seem to indicate, that although the theatre may have existed from an early pe- riod, the exterior work now apparent is not older than the Roman empire. That the Spar- tans had a theatre from early times, there is no doubt, not for dramatic exhibitions, which were forbidden by the Lycurgan institutions a , but for gymnastic exercises and public assemblies b . Under such circumstances, a scene like that of the theatre of Athens would hardly be wanted, and accordingly the remains of the scene of the theatre of Sparta are chiefly of brick, and seem to show that it was an addition of Roman times. The centre of the building was excavated in the hill, but the ground affords little advantage compared with what occurred in some other Greek theatres, and the wings of the cavea were entirely artificial from the foundation to the very summit of the theatre. The interior dia- meter, or length of the orchestra, it is impossible to ascertain without excavation j the breadth of a Plutarch. Inst. Lacon. Plutarch, in Agesil. — Lucian, b Herodot. lib. vi. c. 67- — Anachars. c. 38. 156 SPARTA. [CHAP. V. each wing appears to have been about 115 feet; the total diameter about 450 feet, which was probably greater than the diameter of any theatre in Greece Proper, except that of Athens, unless it shall be found that Pausanias is correct in say- ing that the theatre of Megalopolis was the greatest in Greece. In front of the theatre, and not far from it, there is a sepulchral chamber carefully constructed of large quadrangular stones. 2. A little more than half way from the theatre to the Circus, I found two opposite doors, each formed of three stones, and buried almost to the soffit, thus, On one side of these doors there is some ap- pearance of seats, as if the building had been a place of public assembly ; I found also a frag- ment of the drapery of a statue of white mar- ble, executed in a manner which modern artists cannot, or at least do not imitate. 3. Four other doors constructed like the two just mentioned, and buried in the ground to a similar height. They are found standing in a line in the middle of a corn field, in the way CHAP. V.] SPARTA. 157 from the theatre to the junction of the Trypio- tiko and Eurotas. Here are some foundations also of a wall of later construction. 4. In the modern road from Magula and Psykhiko towards Sklavokhori, there is an an- cient bridge over the Trypiotiko, which is still in use. Its arch has a rise of about one-third of the span, and is constructed of large single blocks of stone, reaching from side to side : a part of the ancient causeway remains at either end of the bridge, of the same solid construc- tion. A quarter of a mile beyond the bridge to the south-west, is the little village of Kalagonia*. Every part of the site of Sparta is covered with fragments of wrought stones, among which, especially near the ruin 3, are found pieces of Doric columns of white marble, together with other fragments of architecture of different or- ders and dimensions. Similar remains have formed the principal materials of the Roman walls, now almost entirely ruined, which sur- round the principal height. The depth, in the ground, of the door frames in ruins 2 and 3, shew the height to which the ruins of the city have raised the present above the ancient sur- face, and leave great reason to believe that some of the works of art existing in the time of Pausanias may be found amidst the accumulated a K.acXocyuvtu. 158 SPARTA. [CHAP. V. soil, whenever a complete search can be made with safety. Meantime the large supply of building materials which exists above ground in the ruined walls of the citadel, and particularly in the vast mass of the theatre, may long serve as a protection from the hands of the masons a to what may remain below the surface. It is not only by carrying away the wrought stones of the ancient buildings that those persons destroy the remains of antiquity in every part of Greece, but they often break the large wrought masses into smaller pieces, rather than resort to the na- tural quarry, if the ancient site happens to be nearer, or otherwise more conveniently situated for moving the materials. Those whose only idea of the Spartans, is that of a people inimical to the elegant arts, as con- nected with luxury, may not expect to find many valuable monuments of art among the remains of their capital. But, in fact, the institutions of Lycurgus, which formed the Spartan discipline, had already ceased to have their entire effect, be- fore the arts attained their acme in Greece ; it is evident, moreover, from the remote date of some of the monuments of Sparta described by Pausanias and other authors, that in every age those religious feelings which were founded on the common belief and customs of all Greece, CHAP. V.] SPARTA. 159 and which were gratified by the dedication of splendid edifices and works of sculpture, were as strong at Sparta as in any part of the country. Without a firm basis of religion, or superstition, the Lycurgan discipline could not have long en- dured. Artists, therefore, though not enjoying at Sparta all the benefits of that passion for the decoration of their city which distinguished the Athenians, could never have been without en- couragement, and they would be equally inspired by that consciousness that they were forming a dedication to the gods and an object of adora- tion, which was, perhaps, the chief cause of the excellence of the Greeks in sculpture, as it may have been of the painters of Europe after the revival of the arts. It is a remark of Thucydides a that, " If Lace- dsemon were demolished, and nothing remained but its sacred buildings and foundations, men of a distant age would find a difficulty in be- lieving the existence of its former power, or that it had possessed two of the five divisions of Peloponnesus, or that it had commanded the whole country, as well as many allies beyond the Peninsula, — so inferior was the appearance of the city to its fame, being neither adorned with temples and splendid edifices, nor built in con- tiguity, but in separate quarters, in the ancient ■ Thucyd. L. 1. c. 10. 160 SPARTA. [CHAP. V. method. Whereas, if Athens," adds the historian, " were reduced to a similar state, it would be sup- posed that her power had been twice as great as the reality." The arts of architecture and sculp- ture, however, received a great developement in Greece from increasing riches and emulation after the time of Thucydides, the monuments multiplied more rapidly than in earlier ages, and Sparta, relaxing in the severity of its man- ners, partook in the general taste. There seems no reason, therefore, to suppose that the site of Sparta, favourable by its own peculiarities to the preservation of remains of antiquity, would be a more unpromising field for research than at least the second-rate cities of Greece, espe- cially as it appears from Pausanias to have pre- served its monuments at the end of the second century of our aera, in a more entire and unin- jured state than almost any city except Athens. Before I attempt to render intelligible any ob- servations on the ancient topography of the city, I shall give an abstract of the description of Sparta by Pausanias a j in which, by attempting a division of it under several heads, we shall be en- abled perhaps to discover a greater degree of me- thod in his description, than is at first apparent. 1st. The first place he notices is the Agora. Here 3 Pausan. Lacon. c. 11. et seq. CHAP. V.] SPARTA. lGl were the council-house of the elders (senate) a and the offices b of the Ephori, Nomophylaces, and Bidisei. The most remarkable building was the Persian Stoa, first erected from the spoils of the Medes, and afterwards enlarged and de- corated : on the columns c were figures of Per- sians in white marble, and among them that of Mardonius ; also that of Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus. The Agora contained likewise temples of Julius Caesar, and of Augustus ; in the latter there was a brazen statue of Agias, a Spartan prophet. In the place called Chorus were statues of Apollo Pythaeus, Diana, and Latona, and near it were temples of Earth, of Jupiter Agoraeus, of Minerva Agoraea, of Apollo, of Juno, and of Neptune Asphalius. There was a colossal statue in the Agora representing the people of Sparta, and a temple of the Fates d , adjacent to which was the tomb of Orestes, and near the latter a statue of Polydorus, with statues of Jupiter Xenius and Minerva Xenia. There was also a Hermes Agoraeus bearing Bac- chus as a child, and the old Ephoreia, a build- a t>5? ye%ova'ta,$ @ovtevTvpw. Egypt, than to the Caryati- b «p%Eia. des of the Pandroseium at c Itt* ruv xtoyw. These Athens. But they differ from words seem to shew that the the Egyptian figures in hav- statues of the Persian portico i n g been portraits, and con- more resembled the colossal sequently of varied character, figures attached to pilasters d Motpiv. in some of the temples of VOL. I. M 162 SPARTA. [CHAP. V. ing in which were the monuments of Epime- nides of Crete, and of Aphareus. Secondly. In proceeding from the Agora along the street Aphetae or Aphetais, there first occurred the Booneta a , formerly the house of King Polydorus ; beyond b the office c of the Bidiaei was the temple of Minerva, surnamed Celeutheia d , with a statue dedicated by Ulys- ses, who erected three sanctuaries of Celeu- theia in different places e . In proceeding along the Aphetais, occurred the heroa of lops, Amphiaraus, and Lelex, — the temenus of Nep- tune Taenarius, — a statue of Minerva, dedicated by the Tarentini, — the place f called Helleni- um, — the monument of Talthybius, — the altar of Apollo Acritas, — Gaseptum, a structure sacred to Earth, near which g there was a statue of Apollo Maleates : and at the extre- mity of the Aphetais, very near the wall (of the city) the temple of Dictynna and the royal sepulchres of the Eurypontidae. Near the Hellenium was the temple of Arsinoe, who was sister of the wives of Castor and Pollux. Near the Barriers h was a temple of Diana, and a little farther a tomb of the Eleian prophets, * T« BOUVYITX. ' e (SuarrtKoTtx, «— ' aXkyXm- b Tlk^UV. X^S 10 "' c ocnyuov. S tiitio c&vtu. * KeXtvQtiut; — tvoolov; duijj.o- 7TJ05 toi'j foup;'oi; xaXon- va$. Hesych. jtAEl/OK' CHAP. V.] SPARTA. lG3 called the Iamidae, — a temple of Maro and Al- pheius, who fell at Thermopylae, — the temple of Jupiter Tropseus, built by the Dorians on con- quering the Achaei of Laconice, and the Amy- claei, — the temple of the Mother of the Gods, — the heroa of Hippolytus and Aulon. Thirdly. The street of Scias. This street was so called from an ancient place of assembly, said to have been built by Theodorus of Samus % near which was a round structure, said to have been founded by Epimenides, containing statues of Jupiter and Venus Olympii ; near these build- ings were the tomb of Cynortas, the temple and monument of Castor, the tomb of Idas and Lynceus, and the temple of Proserpine the Saviour b . Near the temple of Apollo Carneius, called the Domestic , stood a statue of Apollo Aphetaeus. A quadrangular place surrounded with stoae was anciently used for selling second- hand wares d . Near it there was an altar sacred to Jupiter, Minerva, and the Dioscuri, all sur- named Ambulii, — opposite to which were the place called Colona and the temple of Bacchus Colonatas, and the temenus of the hero who conducted Bacchus to Sparta. Not far from the Dionysium of Colona was the temple of Jupiter a About 700 b. c. It was Etymol. in Exkz?. circular, with a roof formed u Kop? ZwTe/pa?. like an umbrella, c-mxhov. c Olxh»<;. d ^wo?. M 2 164 SPARTA. [CHAP. V. Euanemus, on the right of which was the hero- um of Pleuron. Near the latter was the temple of Juno Argeia, standing on a hill, — the temple of Juno Hypercheiria contained an ancient wooden a statue of Aphrodite Hera b . In the road which led to the right of the hill there was a statue of Hetcemocles. Fourthly. The next division of the descrip- tion of Pausanias was to the west of the Agora. Here was the Cenotaph of Brasidas, and near the latter a magnificent theatre of white marble, opposite to which were the monuments of Pau- sanias and of Leonidas : at the latter there was a pillar bearing the names of the men who fell at Thermopylae, with those of their fathers. Fifthly. In the place d called Theomelida, were the royal sepulchres of the Agidae, and near them the Lesche of the Crotani, who were a portion of the Pitanatae, and near the Lesche a temple of iEsculapius. Proceeding from thence 6 a f oaiw ap^aVov. The word stralis according to Sibtborp). %6a,vo\>, used by Strabo in re- It appears also from Pausa- ference to statues of every nias, or from other authors, material, is always applied by that the Greeks employed oc- Pausanias to those in wood. casionally the olive, myrtle, In the A readies, (c. 17,) he ivy, vine, agnus castus, and informs us, that the ancient some other woods. |oaca were made of oak and b Venus Juno, cedar (juniper) of various c diets ui-iov. kinds, of ebony, cvpvcss, box, x w p' i0y ' and lurk, (the Celtis au- c Tp°^°S<». CHAP. V.] SPARTA. 1 65 were the monument of Tacnarus and the tem- ples of Neptune Hippocurius and of Diana .iEsdnaia. Returning to the Lesche, occurred the temple of Diana Issoria, otherwise called Limn sea. Very near the tombs of the Agida; there was a pillar, recording the victories gained by Anchionis at Olympia and else- where. Pausanias then describes the temples of Thetis, of Ceres Chthonia, of Sarapis, and of Jupiter Olympius. In going to the Dro- mus from the tombs of the Agidae, the monu- ment of Eumedes was on the left. There was an ancient statue of Hercules, to which the 2&»- the proximity of the Phoe- £*iov. baeum to Therapne is repeat- c ^wpto*. ed in Chapter XIV. See also d Xcnoph. Hellcn. 1. 6. Herodotus, (1. 6. c. 61.) who c. 5. describes the temple of Helena CHAP. V.] THERAPNE. 183 historian states, in relating the expedition of the Thebans and their allies against Sparta, after the battle of Leuctra, that Epaminondas march- ed from Sellasia to the bridge over the Eurotas, when seeing a body of hoplitae prepared to op- pose him in the sanctuary of Minerva Alea, he drew off his forces, and marched along the left bank of the Eurotas, until he arrived opposite to Amyclae, where he crossed the river. Now the statue described, in the passage just cited, as standing between the city and a temple of Jupiter, near the right bank of the Eurotas, just before crossing it on the way to Therapne, is the only Minerva Alea at Sparta, mentioned by Pausanias. Here, therefore, the two authors perfectly agree, if we suppose the road to The- rapne to have crossed the bridge of the Eurotas : and as there was a difference of five or six cen- turies between the visit of Epaminondas and that of Pausanias, it is not surprising that there should have been a temple and defensible post at the sanctuary of Minerva Alea at the former period of time, and a statue only at the latter. And hence it becomes highly probable that the present ford in the road from the vicinity of Ma- gula to the eastward, which is central in reference to the eastern side of the site of Sparta, and where vestiges of a bridge are still apparent, was in all ages the situation of the bridge, the existence 184< THERAPNE. [CHAP. V. of which, as we have seen, is attested by Plu- tarch and Aristotle, as well as by Xenophon. In the time of Pausanias it is probable that the city, instead of extending nearly to the bridge as in that of Xenophon, terminated at the heights, and left the whole level towards the bank of the river unoccupied ; and that hence the passage across the level, which in the earlier period was a street nearly as far as the bridge, is described by Pausanias as the road a to The- rapne. As to the position of Therapne itself, there seems no other inference to be drawn from the words of Pausanias, than that the Phce- bffium and Therapne, though very near to each other, were on opposite banks of the Eurotas, Therapne on the left and the Phoebseum on the right, and that Pausanias has omitted to notice that the river lay between them : for he proceeds, as we have seen, immediately from the Phcebaeum, to describe the places in the plain, without any mention of the Eurotas. It may be added, that this position of the Phcebgeum on the right bank of the Eurotas, agrees tho- roughly with what may be inferred from the passage of Livy b before cited, where he states that Quinctius, who was encamped on the right bank of the Eurotas near Amycla?, directed one a 5J \-. b Liv. 1. 34. c. 28. CHAP. V.] ZVIISTRA. 185 of his columns of attack against the part of the city adjoining to the Ephebeium, of which word Phcebseum was the local form. I have already suggested that the walls which surround the great height, or second from the north, are of a late period of the Roman em- pire, and that they probably then defended all that remained of the population of Sparta. The fact is sufficiently apparent from the construc- tion of the walls themselves, formed almost en- tirely of ancient fragments, and thus indicating an advanced state of ruin in the city itself. It is no less evident from the reduced space in- closed by them, comprehending only the prin- cipal height, and excluding the cavea of the theatre, the exterior wall of which was a part of the new inclosure. The Circus, as I have already remarked, seems, both from its con- struction and dimensions, to have been of the same period as the town walls. As it must have been intended for the spectacles and customs of heathen Greece, all these constructions may be attributed to a period prior, though probably not by many years, to the establishment of Christianity in the Peloponnesus. Perhaps they were the work of Julian in his endeavours to restore the declining cities of Greece, and to reanimate expiring Polytheism. The invasion of the Goths in the fourth century, and the 186 MISTRA. £CHAP. V. irruption of the Slavonic tribes in the subse- quent ages of barbarism, must have contributed to the further depopulation of Sparta ; but at what time it was totally abandoned, or at what exact period Mistra became the chief place of the KoiXrj AazedotifAcM, or Lacedaemonian val- ley, it is impossible to determine. We may presume that the advantages of the stronger position of Mistra, were felt and employed very soon after Constantinople ceased to be able to afford protection to its distant pro- vinces. The name of Mistra first occurs in the form of Myzithra, which is still sometimes used, together with Morea for Peloponnesus, and other modern appellations, after the partial revival of letters in the twelfth century, when the Byzantine writers resumed the thread of Grecian history, and revealed at the same time the progress of barbarism. Pachymer, speaking of an occurrence of the year 1259, names Mo- nemvasia, Maini, Ieraki, and Myzithra a , as the chief places in the south of the Peloponnesus. It is true, that Nicephorus Gregoras, relating the same event, makes mention of Sparta as if it still existed ; but it is probable, that Nicepho- rus merely preferred the ancient to the modern name, from a desire to shew his knowledge of antiquity, and to allude to the former glories of CIIA1\ V.] UKYSE^. 187 his country ; and that, in reality, by Sparta he meant Mistra. The absence of any remains of churches at Sparta, and the antiquity of some of those at Mistra, prove that the Episcopal See was at a very early period of Christianity esta- blished at the latter place. The title of the bishop residing at Mistra is Metropolitan of Lacedaemonia a , the same which we constantly find subscribed to the acts of the Councils. March 23. — Ride to the village of Sinan- bey, near Sklavokhori, in search of the site of Brysece, which the description of Pausanias, and some information given me by a peasant at Sparta, induce me to think was near that village. To the west of it, at the foot of the mountain, I find a fine source of water and several antique fragments in a ruined chapel ; among others, on a piece of white marble that appears to have been part of a frize, is a wolf pursuing a deer, in a spirited style, in very low relief. In the village I find also a sculptured marble which had been described to me by the same informant. It was lying near a chapel, with the wrought side downwards. It repre- sents in relief, a battle of women on horseback, armed with bipe?ines, against men on foot, in scaly armour, armed with short swords. The subject was probably the death of Penthesilea j 1SS BRYSEi. [CHAP. V. the date that of the Roman Empire. The de- sign is good, but the execution rough and un- finished ; so much so, indeed, that an Ionic cornice at the top, which shews it to have be- longed to a frize, is wrought in part only, the rest being simply smoothed and shaped out for the ornament. The stone was dug up three or four years ago, as I am told, in an adjoining field*. Through the gorge behind Sklavokhori, at the entrance of which stands a tower, on the summit of a perpendicular rock there is a road to Sokha, a village in the upper cultivated region of Taysretum, where are said to be some remains of antiquity, possibly those of the temple of Ceres Eleusinia, which was near the great sum- mits, anciently called Taletum and Evoras b . Sinanbey I take to be the site of Bryseae. The marbles representing female ornaments, and re- cording the names of the priestesses, Laoagete and Anthuse, which are now lying at the neigh- bouring village of Sklavokhori, probably be- longed to the temple of Bacchus at Bryseae, into which women alone were admitted, and of which they performed the secret rites. The name of Bryseae may have been derived from the source at the chapel. I return to Mistra through Aianni. a The marble is now in rnv b Pausan. Lacon. c. 20. possession. » • CHAPTER VI. LACOXIA. From Mistra to Monemvasia — EpiDArBrs Limera — Epi- delium — Return to Elos — Ancient Geoffajbj — From Elos to Marathonisi. March -2o. — This morning I bid adieu to my host the bishop, and leave Mistra for Monem- vasia. His Holiness appears to be a kind hearted man, and a favourite with his flock, but as ignorant a Kaloieros 2 as I have chanced to meet In the course of conversation, when I stated that Britain is seven or eight hundred (Greek) miles b long; — "then it must be as large", he said, "as the Morea," which is about one fourth as long. "When 1 told him it was an island, he cried, Kjugu i/.ir t a.%u, or Ka- and in process of time they seem to hare shortened even b The Greeks have no mea- the Roman mile. sure of a mile: their ideas 190 TO ELOS. [CHAP. VI. who is living upon the villages of the plain. He receives 500 piastres from the town of Mistra, not to disturb them ; the villages, therefore, are the principal sufferers. I was the bearer of a letter to him from the voivoda, requesting him to supply me with an escort and orders for the Dervenis on the frontiers of Bardhunia, of which these Bardhuniotes have made themselves the guardians. I find him in a miserable cot- tage in Aianni, surrounded with his followers in Albanian dresses, and himself clothed like a chieftain of the same people, in a waistcoat and cloak covered with gold lace : he appears about forty years of age. His manner is frank and civil, like that of the generality of his race, and he immediately supplies me with two men on foot to accompany me. Some of the Bardhuniotes possess tjiftliks in the plain of Mistra. The brother of Amus Aga, called Dervish Bey, had a large pyrgo in the town of Mistra, which is now in ruins : he was put to death twelve years ago by the then voivoda, by order of the Porte. I leave St. John at 7-57> and cross the plain in the direction of the opening through which the Eurotas issues from the Spartan valley into the plain of Elos. This gorge, which is noticed by Strabo 3 , separates the eastern range from a a o EvgwTois wap' a^TJjv tw ly.dtouai y.itu.£p Tvatov y.xi Y.ita.^riw p'vek * a » Sn^iuiv ccv- 'Axgiuv. Strilbo, p. o4.o. "Kuvx Twcx fxcx,y.^o)i y.a.rtx to EX05, CHAP. VI.] TO ELOS. 191 long and lofty counterfort of Mount Taygetum called Lykovuni, which bounds the plain of Mis- tra on the south, as the parallel root, which termi- nates at the site of Sparta, does on the north. At S.57 the tjiftlik of Mohammed Bey is on the left, half a mile, and a little farther that of Dervish Bey on the right, at the same distance. Under St. Elias, or the highest peak of Tayge- tum, half way down, appears the village of Po- lovitza. At 9.12 we pass a river called Tak- hurti which rises near Polovitza, and then, having crossed the low ridge which I have al- ready described as a continuation of the heights on which Sparta stood, we descend into the lower vale on the banks of the Eurotas, where, at 9-32, we pass another stream at a mill just under the village of Kakari, opposite to which, on the other side of the Eurotas, is the tjift- lik of Skura. At 9.39 arrive on the bank of the Eurotas, which is here wide, sandy, and rapid : on the opposite side of the river stands a pyrgo and zeugalatia, or tjiftlik called Babas. At 10.20 pass a mill under the heights, lose five minutes, and at 10.35 begin to cross the ex- tremity of Lykovuni. — The Eurotas remains on our left, flowing eastward through a rocky ravine lying between the height we cross and the great bank on the opposite side of the river, which is a continuation of Mount Menelaium. 192 TO ELOS. [chap. VI. After having passed the extremity of Lyko- vuni, we enter a valley, through which a large stream flows into the Eurotas, called Rasina, or Erasina ; it descends from Potamia, a town of Bardhunia on the right. Though I find no mention in ancient history of a river Erasmus in this part of the country, the similarity of the modern name, and the frequent occurrence of Erasinus in ancient geography as the appellation of a river, leave great reason to suspect that Rasina is a corruption of Erasinus. Here the Eurotas resumes a more southerly course. On the hills to the right is seen Kurtzuna, two miles south of Potamia, and to the right of the latter the monastery of Garbitza, on the south side of the St. Elias, or highest summit of Tag. getum, for which I can learn no other name here than the Mountain of Mani \ At 10.53 we arrive at the Vasilo-Perama, or ford of the Vasili Potamo, as the Eurotas is here called, and cross it a quarter of a mile above the junc- tion of the Potamia river, immediately opposite to which is a pyrgo and tjiftlik belonging to Dervish Bey, a young man whom I met at Amus Aga's. At 11J we are in the midst of low rugged heights, with the Eurotas running through a gorge on the right, at the foot of CHAP. VI.] TO ELOS. 193 Lykovuni. At 11.50 descend upon its bank. At 12.17> after having taken some armed men from a guard-house, we pass through the Der- veni of Mavrokurla, a hollow road resembling a great ditch, among some rugged heights. At 12.35 we again meet the bank of the Va- sili Potamo, and at 12.45 enter a vale at first barren, but afterwards of good soil and green with wheat, more forward than in the plain of Mistra, and with sekali, or rye, already in ear: at 12.52 the pyrgo and tjiftlik of Abdul Kerim is on the right bank of the Eurotas, and the village of Finika somewhere near, but not in sight. At 2, on an ascent, which on the other side slopes to the plain of Elos, I halt for dinner on the edge of the hill, at the ruins of a chapel by the road side. I find these meridian halts, which are generally determined by the occurrence of a spring of water, to be the most acceptable arrangement for both men and cattle. From hence the village of Ieraki 3 is seen on the side of the southernmost division of the eastern range, at the distance of three miles in a strait line. Behind it I perceive the ruins of a for- mer town on the top of a hill. Among them there are said to be some remains of Hellenic walls. The gorge of the Eurotas at the foot of Lykovuni is now half a mile on our right : to the south a Yll^CLyU, Or \l(WtVA. VOL. I. O 19^ TO ELOS. [CHAP. VI. and south-east appears the gulf of Kolokythia with a part of the plain of Elos near the sea, and the island of Cerigo terminating the pros- pect. To the eastward the eastern Laconic range ends in a peaked hill, which forms a re- markable object from the castle of Mistra, and on the side of which is the village of Beziane. At 2.37 I pursue my journey, and descend gradually a barren tract, rocky and covered with bushes of mastic, holly-oak, and wild olive. At 3.8 arrive at a spot where the modern road passes over a flat surface of rock, in which the ruts of chariot wheels are still remaining for the distance of thirty or forty paces, they are four feet two inches asunder, and two inches deep ; in one spot there is a semicircular ex- cavation on one side, intended apparently for the purpose of allowing a car to turn out of the road to make room for another to pass. At 3.16, at a descent, I again see similar tracks of wheels, vestiges probably of the ancient carriage- road which led from Sparta to Helos, and to the towns on the Laconic gulf. It here winds in curves first to the right, and then to the left, for the purpose of easing the descent ; in some places there are marks of two or three ruts close together. Hereabout terminates the lonsr narrow vale of the Eurotas, between the plains of Sparta and Helos, which Strabo has CHAP. VI.] ELOS. 195 so well described by the words a.v'kojv [Au,x.go$. At 3.26 ascending a hill to Tzasi a , one of the villages of Elos, I meet again with the ancient road indicated by the same kind of wheel tracks to the extent of not less than 100 paces. Here it would seem that the ancient carriage road to Trinasus and Gythium, separated from that which led through Helos to Asopus, Epidaurus Limera, and Boeae. Leaving one of the villages of Elos on the right, we pass at 3.50 through Tzasi, and descend into the maritime plain, and then turn to the left along the foot of some low hills, upon which are two or three more villages of the same dis- trict; to the right the plain extends to the sea, and a lagoon is seen at its south-eastern extremity. All the land towards the shore, being marshy, is in pasture, the rest is covered with corn now two feet high ; and the forwardest I have yet seen. A few old mulberry and olive trees show that the plain once produced oil and silk. At 5 we arrive at Priniko b , the last of the villages of Elos to the south-eastward. The plain and sub-district of Elos extends from the mountain of Beziane to the foot of the hills of Bardhunia and to the frontier of Mani, which begins at Trinisa, the ancient Trinasus. The villages of Elos are eleven in o 2' 196 ELOS. [CHAP. VI. number, none containing more than twenty houses ; most of them are situated on the low hills which encircle the plain, but some are in the plain itself. Skala, which stands on the bank of the Eurotas y an hour above its mouth, is so called from being the place of embarkation of the district. Though Elos is almost entirely separated from the other parts of the district of Mistra by parts of Bardhunia and Monemvasia, its villages are all enrolled in that Kazasi. The dhekatia of cotton is one tenth, that of corn one seventh, a third of the remainder goes to the proprietor of the land, the rest to the zevgalates. The mukata of the three principal villages, Priniko, Tzasi, and Turali, was sold last year for twenty- four purses, and the purchasers are supposed to have been gainers in consequence of the high price of corn this year. Wheat is now twelve piastres a kilo in Mistra and Monemvasia 3 . The three villages just named produce corn, besides 4000 okes of cotton ; and the fishery of the lagoon belongs to the same mukata. The chief produce of fish is in summer ; in the winter the fish are disturbed by the violence of the wind and by the salt water, which is blown by it into the lake over the sandy beach which a The exchange with England was then about fifteen pence to the piastre. CHAP. VI.] PRINIKO. 197 separates it from the sea. Cattle are sent in winter to Elos for pasture from the plain of Tripolitza. There are a few buffaloes used for labour in the plain. Elos, Anapli, Gastuni, and Nisi are, I believe, the only places in the Morea where these animals are seen. At the sight of the high black cap of the voi- voda's Dehli who accompanies me, the inhabit- ants of Priniko fled and hid themselves, and some time elapsed before I could procure ad- mittance into one of the cottages. The Helote who owned it, when forced at length to make his appearance, bestowed the most ridiculous flattery on the ragged Turkish soldier. When told that the new voivoda was arrived at Ana- pli, on his way from Constantinople, and was daily expected at Mistra, " A thousand and a thousand times welcome ", he exclaimed, with a profusion of benedictions which the Turk received with a grave face, though perfectly understanding the value of these compliments to his master, and that the Greek knew as well as himself that the arrival of a new governor could make no other difference to the poor Helotes than the imposition of some extraor- dinary gratuity, and consequently that he meant nothing but curses in his heart. At dinner the Turkish soldier did ample justice to the Helote's fare, who not then knowing that I should re- 198 PRINIKO. [chap. VI. munerate him for the damage, must have con- sidered the effect of the Dehli's teeth as all clear loss to him. He pretended nevertheless to lament that the Dehli ate very little, and after many pressing invitations, when at length he saw the Turk fairly a-ground, ended with the reflection, oi {AzyaXoi avOgaKoi d&v rguyovv, " great men never eat much." One of the cottagers told me of two or three miracles that had hap- pened to him last year. On one occasion a wine barrel that had been long lying empty he found full of good wine. It has always been part of the Greek character to believe in §au- f^ocra: when the traveller tells them that such wonders never occur in his own country, they reply that it is a proof of their being the es- pecial favourites of Heaven, though they ad- mit that at present they are suffering severe punishment for their sins. The boluk bashi, who superintends the affairs of the mukatasi of Tzasi, and the two other villages, said to me, " This land of Elos is good and rich, but we are obliged to squeeze the peasants too much, otherwise it would produce a great deal more." Thus it often happens, that Turks possessing local power are well inclined to exercise it with moderation for their own sakes, but the vicious system beginning from the head, and passing through all the gradations of the Turkish go- CHAP. VI.] TO MONEMVASIA. 199 vernment, irresistibly impels them to a contrary course. Priniko stands about a mile from the sea side ; opposite to it begins the lagoon which extends for a mile along the shore, and then becomes a marsh as far as the south-eastern extremity of the plain, where the beach ceases, and the hills end in cliffs over-hanging the sea. The lake is about half a mile broad in the widest part. I can neither see nor learn any thing decisive of the exact position of that maritime city Helos a , which supplied some of the ships of Menelaus in the Trojan expedition, and after the return of the Heracleidae partook of the fate of the other Laconic cities, which were reduced to insignificance by the Doric conquerors for the sake of Sparta, that of Helos becoming at length so peculiarly the victim of their aristocratical oppression, that the name of the people was ap- plied to all the servile class of the Lacedaemonian state, whether natives of Laconia or of Messenia. March 26. This morning, at a quarter of an hour beyond Priniko, I meet with an inscribed column, which was uncovered by the plough not long since in a field at the foot of the heights on the left of our road. The inscription contains the names of the Emperors Constantine, Valen- tinian, Valens, and Constans. The marsh is at a "EXos 'tq>a.Xov TCToxiz^cv. Homer. II. B. v. 684. 200 TO MONEMVASIA. [CHAP. VI. a little distance on the right. Leaving this spot, at 6.15 we arrive, at the end of three miles, at the foot of the hill of Beziane, where some low cliffs overhang a narrow beach. The lower part of the hill, as well as the adjacent plain, is covered with the Velani oak a , the leaves of which are just beginning to appear. We pass under the cliffs, and arrive, in five minutes, at a ruined chapel, where are some fragments of an- tiquity, and the base of a column of the time of the lower empire ; — then ascend the moun- tain of Beziane, moving in the direction of the northernmost and highest peak ; the road very rugged and overgrown with bushes. Just under the peak we pass a cave, in which saltpetre is made by simply boiling the earth : this is a common production of the caverns of the Mo- rea. Sulphur being easily supplied from Milo and Crete, gunpowder is made in many parts of the Peninsula. A little under the cave I see some tracks of ancient wheels in the rock, of the same dimen- sions as those I measured yesterday. Having passed the higher peak to the left, and proceed- ed in the direction of the lower and southern- most peak, I halt under the latter for ten mi- nutes, to take some observations of the eastern coast of Mani, which, as well as the greater a Quercus iEgilops. CHAP. VI.] TO MONEMVASIA. 201 part of the gulf, is here displayed before us, bounded eastward by the hills behind Cape Xyli, and the mountains of Monemvasia. We now descend by a paved zig-zag road into the plain of Finiki, and enter the plain at the Turkish village of Patsha a , opposite to it is Finiki b , standing on the side of the mountain which borders the plain on the south. Having passed at 10.30 through Patissia, we cross the plain from thence, and at 11.40 enter the hills which close the plain on the east, and upon which stand the villages of Sykia and St. Theodore. We leave, on the right in the plain, another village called Katavothra, and behind us, at the dis- tance of a mile, that of Melaos, or Molaghos, situated eastward of Patissia, under the south- eastern side of the high peak of the hill of Be- ziane. There are some fine fountains and gar- dens at Melaos, and two or three large pyrghi, which, as well as those of Patissia, are of a more solid construction than the ordinary Turkish towers. Melaos, some of the Greeks say, is properly Menelaos, and has something to do, though they know not what, with the history of Menelaus and Helen. The plain of Finiki answers precisely to that called Leuce by Strabo ; it has thus changed its denomination from white to red; but I do not perceive that either of a Properly Uocnaaiu. b o»>ix». c Strabo, p. 363. 202 TO MONEMVASIA. [CHAP. VI. them is appropriate as a descriptive name. The plain is partly grown with corn just springing up, but the greater part of it is in natural pas- ture. Having passed, at 12, between Sykia and Aio Thodhoro, the vulgar pronunciation of ' Ay tog Oeadogos, we enter among low heights and narrow barren vales, where the ground is in many places covered with wild lavender in blos- som, and ascend the mountains, which are steep, rugged, lofty rocks, offering no possibility of cultivation. At 12.50, in the highest part of this wilderness, I halt on the slope of one of the mountains, and dine with a rock for my table, near an opening in the range, which admits of a partial view on either side. To the north- west is seen the hill of Beziane, and to the eastward the sea near Monemvasia - 7 directly be- fore us is a rocky precipice, terminating a moun- tain, which trends to the south-eastward, and is separated by a ravine from the mountain imme- diately in face of Monemvasia. At 1.20 we begin to descend into this ravine, and skirt the foot of the precipitous summit, over rocky bar- ren ground, in the midst of which, at 1.50, are a fountain, a garden, and the ruins of a village ; from whence, descending towards the sea, we arrive, at 2.30, in front of the northern side of the island of Monemvasia, which is a bare pre- cipice like the back of Gibraltar. We now move CHAP. VI.] MONEMVASIA. 203 southward along the rocks on the shore at a very slow pace, the road being bad, and our wretched Agoyatic horses nearly at the extent of their powers. At 3.30 cross the bridge, and enter the gate of Monemvasia. My Dehli Ba- sin, Mehmet Agd, for these high titles are freely assumed by a Turk of the lowest rank when on a journey or absent from his su- periors, conducts me without ceremony to the house of Hassan Bey, the governor, who is absent, and to whom he despatches a letter of recommendation which he brought from the voivoda of Mistra j in the mean time we take possession of the governor's house, which is pleasantly situated close to the sea. I receive a visit soon afterwards from the kadi and some of the other Turks. March 27. — The name of Movepficuriot, is de- rived from its singular situation, which admits only of one approach and entrance a on the land side, over the bridge which connects the western extremity of the hill with the main land. The island is about half a mile in length, and one- third as much in breadth, its length forming a right angle to the direction of the main shore. The town is divided into two parts, the castle b on the summit of the hill, and the town c , which is built on the southern face of the island, occu- 3 (tow ffx/3a<7» ; \ b yovXcc, Of y.xaTgot. c X u ^ a ' 204 MONEMVASIA. [CHAP. VI. pying one-third of it towards the eastern end. The town is inclosed between two walls de- scending directly from the castle to the sea; the houses are piled upon one another, and in- tersected by narrow intricate streets. Many of the buildings are of Venetian construction ; there are about 300 houses in the town, and 50 in the castle : all, except about six, are Turkish. Before the Russian invasion of the Morea there were 150 Greek families, but they, as well as the Greek inhabitants of the villages of this dis- trict, fled after that event to Asia, or to Petza, Ydhra, and the other islands. Some of them returned, after Hassan, the Capitan Pasha, had expelled the Albanians, who had marched into the Morea against the Russo-Greeks ; but the Vilayeti has never recovered its Christian po- pulation, and does not now contain more than 500 Greeks ; its cultivation has of course dimi- nished, andnow produces little more of the ne- cessaries of life, than are sufficient for its own consumption. Before the insurrection, corn and kalambokki were exported : the only ex- ports now are about 500 kantars of oil to Trieste, (the total quantity produced in the dis- trict being about 800 kantars,) together with some figs, onions, and cheese. The whole district is rocky and mountainous, except the plain of Finiki. The town is sup- CHAP. VI.] MONEMVASIA. 205 plied with fruit and vegetables from Velies, a village on the hills, an hour west of Monem- vasia, where are also a few vineyards, which produce a strong wine. That which gave rise to the name of Malmsey a has long been extinct here. All the coast in sight from the town is an uncultivable rock. To the south, the coast line is terminated by Cape Kamili, a low nar- row promontory, with a hummock upon it, supposed to resemble the back of a camel ; Cape Malea, or Malia, rises above Cape Kamili, being exactly in the same line from Monemvasia. To the north, the coast in sight is terminated by Cape Kremidhi, the extreme point of the bay of Palea Monemvasia. I visit a large monastery in the town, said to have been founded by the Emperor Andronicus Comnenus, which would make it a work of the twelfth century. The church is one of the largest in Greece, but is maintained in a state fit for the church service towards the altar only; of the rest of the building nothing is left but the bare walls ; at the end opposite to the altar are the remains of two thrones, which were destroyed by the Turks after the Russian invasion. My cice- roni say they were the thrones of a king and queen, whose names they cannot tell me. It does not appear from Nicetas, that Andronicus passed a Malvasia, a word corrupted from Monemvasia. 206 MGNEMVASIA. [CHAP. VI. his exile in this part of the empire. There are some fragments of white marble lying in different parts of the church ; one has two peacocks on it, with their tails spread ; — below, an ox's head and a serpent, upon which one of the peacocks is treading;. It is a work of the lower ages, probably of the same date as the church. There is one monk belonging to the monastery, and a small apartment for the bishop, who, though a metropolitan of high rank in the eastern church, is obliged, in consequence of the wretched state of this place, and the insult and extortion to which he would be exposed here from the Turks, to re- side at Kalamata, except at Easter, when he comes here to officiate at the festival. In virtue of an edict of the Emperor Andronicus, he assumes the place of the Patriarch of Jerusalem in the synod, when the latter happens to be absent, and then sits above the patriarchs of Alexan- dria and Antioch. His suffragan bishopricks are, Andrussa, Andruvista, Platza, Milea, Maini, Kolokythia, and Elos ; all but the first and last are in Mani. March 28. — Hassan Bey is not only governor of the fortress and voivoda of the district, but captain also of the Sultan's galley, stationed here to clear the coast of pirates, and more par- ticularly intended to preserve Mani in its pre- sent orderly state. He is not a little proud of CHAP. VI.] MONEMVASTA. 207 his exploits against the Maniates. He has not left them, he says, a single tratta to carry on their depredations by sea. Two of their cap- tured galleys, similar in construction to his own, but much smaller, are now lying here, drawn up on the beach just within the bridge. He affirms, that since he has been entrusted with this command he has blown up eighteen Ma- niate castles, and destroyed almost as many villages ; only a few months since he took Ma- rathonisi, after firing a prodigious number of shot into it, when he also captured 90 kantars of powder, in barrels of 400 okes, and 40 kan- tars of shot, which had been landed from a French brig of war. The same brig sailed from Mani to Crete, where another cargo was landed for the use of the Sfakhiotes, but which was also seized by the governor of Khania \ Has- san receives from the Sultan for the mainte- nance of his galley 12,000 piastres a year, 100 kantars of biscuit, and 10 kantars of powder : the vessel mounts twelve guns, and has fifteen pair of oars. His services in this quarter are of ancient date ; when the Capitan Pasha Has- san was sent to settle the affairs of the Morea, after the Russian invasion, Hassan Bey marched from Marathonisi, which had been taken by the Pasha, across the Taygetum to Kitties, where a Italice, Canea. 208 M'ONEMVASIA. [CHAP. VI. he shut up several of the Kapitanei in a tower, and forced them to a capitulation. The Greeks, who rose in consequence of Orlov's proceed- ings, are stated by Hassan to have committed the greatest cruelties against the Turks, and it is well known that the expedition of Dolgorouki against Mothoni failed in consequence of their disorderly, or cowardly, conduct. The Alba- nians, who entered the Morea on this occasion, amounted, according to Hassan, to 15,000, who themselves, alarmed at the great number of their countrymen that were following to share in the plunder, and supported by the government in their determination to admit no more, stationed parties at the isthmus, with orders to prevent any more Albanians from entering the peninsula. When the insurrection had been quelled, and peace made with Russia, the Albanians, who had committed and were continuing to commit the greatest excesses, were ordered to return home ; but repeated firmahns having failed in producing obedience to this order, Hassan Bey accompanied the Capitan Pasha in his expedition against them, when they were totally defeated, and a pyramid of their heads was made near Tripolitza : of the survivors, some joined the old colonies of their countrymen at Lalla and Bardhunia, others en- tered into the service of the Pasha ; only a few returned to Albania. Hassan speaks highly of CHAP. VI.] MONEMVASIA. 209 the services of the interpreter of the fleet, Mav- royeni, upon this occasion, particularly in the pacification of Mani : he was afterwards voivoda of Moldavia, and was beheaded by a Grand Vezir Hassan, for which the vezir himself lost his head. Hassan Bey's account of his wars in Mani is very amusing. It seldom happened, he says, that when he wished to destroy a village, he could not find some neighbouring village to assist him in the work, and generally under the guidance of a priest, upon condition of his having the stones of the ruins for a perquisite. Their own civil wars, Hassan says, are seldom very bloody, and months may pass without a single man being killed on either side. The women carry ammunition for their husbands or brothers, and it is a point of honour not to fire at them. To shew the respect in which Hassan's name is held in Mani, he shews me a poetical effusion which he has just received from thence, and in which he is described as gifted with every pos- sible virtue. Poetry and piracy seem to be in- digenous plants that will never be eradicated from Greece. The Albanian dress is daily becoming more customary, both in the Morea and in the rest of Greece : in the latter, from the great increase of the Albanian power ; in the Morea, probably VOL. i. p 210 MONEMVASIA. [CHAP. VI. in consequence of the prosperity of Ydhra, which is an Albanian colony, and of the settle- ments of Albanian peasantry that have been made in some parts of the Morea, particularly Argolis, as well as in the neighbouring pro- vinces of Attica and Bocotia. The dress is lighter and more manageable than the Turkish or Greek. It is common for the Turks of Greece to dress their children as Albanians, though it would not comport with their own dignity and prejudices to adopt it themselves. Hassan's son is dressed a l'Albanoise j — himself as a galionji, or Turkish seaman. I ride out this afternoon to Palea Monem- vasia, upon a handsome Egyptian horse, with which the governor provides me. The bridge is 536 feet in length ; we cross it at 1.25, and proceeding northward along the shore, at 2.25 pass the ruins of a small Hellenic city, situated on the cliffs immediately above the beach ; the place is called Old Monemvasia a . I have little doubt that the ruins are those of the an- cient Epidaurus Limera, and that Monem- vasia is the Minoa of Pausanias b . I proceed twenty minutes farther to some ruined maga- zines, situated under a peninsula, which forms a harbour on either side of it : that on the a xa,\Ma, MovipGeurix. b Pausan. Laccui- c. 23. CHAP. VI.] EPIDAURUS LIMERA. 211 south-west side is called the Port of Palea Monemvasia, and that on the north, the har- bour of Kremidhi ; the latter is included be- tween the peninsula and the great promontory of Kremidhi already mentioned. Monemvasia itself has no harbour ; the galleys and boats are hauled up on the beach. At the magazines of Old Monemvasia there now lies the wreck of an Ydhriote ship, which was burnt by lightning two or three years ago. I ascend the peninsula, it is crowned with a tower, and terminates to the n.n.e. in a perpendicular precipice. Returning, I examine the ruins of Epidaurus, of which Pausanias a says only, that " the town was situated on a height not far from the sea; and that the remarkable objects in it were sanc- tuaries b of Venus and iEsculapius, the latter con- taining an upright statue of marble ; a temple c of Minerva, in the Acropolis, and another of Jupiter Soter, in face of the harbour d, \ The walls, both of the Acropolis and town, are traceable all round; and in some places, par- ticularly towards the sea, they remain to more than half their original height. The town formed a sort of semicircle on the southern side of the citadel. The towers are some of the small- est I have ever seen in Hellenic fortresses ; the faces ten feet, the flanks twelve : the whole * Pausan. Lacon. c. 23. c va&j. p 2 212 EPIDAURUS LIMERA. [CHAP. VI. circumference of the place is less than three quarters of a mile. The town was divided into two separate parts by a wall, thus making, with the citadel, three interior divisions. On the Acropolis there is a level space, which is sepa- rated from the remaining part of it by a little insulated rock, excavated for the foundations of a wall. I take this platform to have been the position of the temple of Minerva. On the site of the lower town, towards the sea front, there are two terrace walls, one of which is a perfect specimen of the second order of Hellenic masonry. Upon these terraces may have stood the temples of Venus and ^Esculapius. There are, likewise, some remains of a modern town within the ancient inclosure, namely, houses, churches, and a tower of the lower ages. After mentioning the port of Jupiter Soter, Pausanias immediately adds, " below the city a promontory extends into the sea, called Minoa. The bay does not differ from other retired shores of the Laconice, but the beach affords pebbles more beautiful in form, and which are of every variety of colour." The beach, in fact, consists of pebbles, and among them I find many colours"; though I question whether as a "Ak^oc $\ Ei to TrsAayo; h»t« iaSu^ui' oclyiccXoi; Si 6 return rr,v rroXiv kv'-yi\, y.otkov^vn Mi- 7ra§E%ETai -^To^'idot: cx^f*'* l ^" vtoat. xet) o fjuv mXitoi; ovSiv Ti Tr^tTrtaTe^otq not) ^oa? TretvroSet- sysi Sintyoeov n <> vfnvos TOJ/ tyoilHKOVV Z.OKX.OV ^>£p£». As it is formed by an animal of the same kind as that which produces the cochineal, gall, &c, naturalists have given the name of coccus to that genus. That the coccus was an animal formation was known to Pausanias, who, as well as Dioscorides, applies the word x.6xy.o; to the shrub. Pausanias thus describes it (Phocic. c. 36.) : " In the country of the Ambryssenses, there is an abundance of the thorn which the Ionians and other Greeks call coccus \J> xoxxo$3> uut which the Gauls above Phrygia name 1$ [houx] . In size it equals the f a.pvo$, [^according to Sibthorp the lycium Europeeum,] the leaves are blacker and smoother than those of the lentisk [V^iVos], in other re- spects it resembles that plant : the fruit is like that of the night-shade {jTr^x^oiQ, but in size is equal to the vetch Qe^oGos]. On this there breeds a small insect, which, if it be left in the air till the fruit is ripe, becomes a fly resembling the gnat QxwuuvJ/] : the fruit of the coccus therefore is ga- thered before the fly is hatch- ed, and its blood is then a dye for wool." It is singular that Pausanias should not have observed, that the fruit of the shrub is an acorn; he is mistaken also, or at least expresses himself very negli- gently, in confining the ani- mal to the fruit only, as it is found attached in greatest quantity to the leaves and small branches. Though the vermilion is far from being equally plentiful in all situa- tions, the shrub is one of the most common on the unculti- vated hills of Greece, and is generally found in company with the lentisk [o-%rvo?], which CHAr. VII.] MAVROVUNI. 251 April 7- — I am informed that ships at Mara- thonisi water generally at a well not far from the theatre at Paleopoli, which has the reputa- tion of yielding the best water in the neighbour- hood. This I did not see, which I regret, as it seems to be the well of iEsculapius, mentioned by Pausanias. Those who are not very nice, fill their casks at the mill mentioned April 3d, 10.55, where the water is nearer the shore, and more accessible. I walk this afternoon to Ma- vrovuni 3 , a village situated on a promontory, one mile and a half to the southward of Mara- thonisi : it overlooks the plain of Passava, which extends for three or four miles along the shore, and to an equal distance in the interior. Both the plain and the hills around it are well culti- vated, and have several pyrghi and small vil- lages upon them. Further westward, a long root of Mount Taygetam stretches to the south, called Makryaraki, or Long-ridge b ; it is cover- ed with a forest of the velani-oak, and is sup- posed to produce half the vallonea shipped at Marathonisi : behind this are seen other higher mountains, extending to the gulf of Koroni, which are connected northward with the great which it somewhat resembles. wrong who propose to sub- Whence it appears that the stitute wgvoq for a^jyo; in the comparison of Pausanias was preceding passage, peculiarly proper, and that a Mccvgo$ovvt. those commentators are in the b Maxgvagax*;. 252 MAVROVUNI. [chap. VII. summits of Mount Taygetum, of which the southernmost peaked one, probably the ancient Taletum, is the most remarkable object in view : it is known in Mani by the name of Makryno. At the foot of the peak, to the westward, stood Pigadhia, now ruined, the native village and re- treat of the robber Zakharia, long the terror of the Morea. To the south, the peninsula of Cape Matapan is just seen, nearly hid by Cape Kre- midhara, which forms the southern side of the bay of Vathy. On the northern side of the same bay is Cape Petali, situated a mile or two north of Vathy, from whence begins the sandy beach of the plain of Passava, which runs in an easterly direction to Mavrovuni. The mountains to the northward of Cape Matapan are seen very ob- liquely, their direction like the great root of Taygetum in the northern part of Mani, being nearly north and south ; the southern part of this great promontory is entirely separated from the rest of the range of Taygetum by a hollow undulated country, lying between Skutari and Vitylo, where are situated the villages of Ka- ryopoli, Vakho, and several others, some of which are in sight from Mavrovuni. The north- ern part of this southern division of Taygetum, which anciently must have had some separate name, is very high, and has now some snow upon it. It terminates to the north in a remark- CHAP. VII.] MAVROVUNL 253 able cliff, near the southern side of Porto Vitylo, called Ai-Elia. The village of Mavrovuni is reckoned the largest on the eastern side of Mani, though it does not contain many more than 100 families. It was built by Tzanet Bey, and is hence some- times called Tzanetupoli. It was Tzanet, also, who built the town of Marathonisi, on a site be- fore called Melissi, naming it after the adjacent island, which forms the port. There are three or four pyrghi in Mavrovuni, and at the top of the hill stands the castle of Tzanet, now deserted. It has a flat roof with battlements, and stands in a court surrounded with a wall, defended by bat- tlements and round towers ; the rain which falls on the roof of the house and on some platforms in the area, supplies a cistern below it. There are rooms fitted a la Turque, — a large kitchen, and apartments for the suite. P. tells me, that Tzanet Bey used to ring a bell at supper time, and give food to all those who came to him. Part of the house has been beaten down by his enemies, but little damage seems to have been done to the principal apartments. From hence I proceed to the pyrgo of Thod- horo, Andon's son-in-law, with a note of intro- duction from the Bey. I am treated, as usual in Greek visits, with sweetmeats, cold water, pipes, and coffee, in that order. Thodhoro 254 PASSAVA. [chap. VII. seems to be the most humanized of his family. The lady of the house is gone to Marathonisi to see her father ; I meet her, on my return, riding on a mule with several attendants. Mavrovuni commands a fine view of all the coast from the island Cerigo a to Trinisa. From the position, one should expect an ancient site ; but I cannot perceive any indications of it : nor does Pausanias give any reason to look for one here. April 8. — I set out to visit the ruins of Pas- sava at 8.10, proceeding along the side of JLary- sium as far as Mavrovuni. The priests of Bacchus would find it difficult now to discover a bunch of grapes upon this mountain at any season, or any thing but a few stunted shrubs of lentisk and prinari. It is said, however, even in the memory of persons now living, to have produced some olives, which have been destroyed in the Maniate wars. I cannot now perceive even an arbutus to justify the modern name of Kumaro. At 8.38 Mavrovuni was a little on our left. Here some delay occurred, while the owner of a horse which I had hired, fetched his musket from the village. We then descend into the plain of Passava ; at 8.52 lose fifteen minutes in searching for a fresh horse for one of the servants, at a mandhra. At 9 CHAP. VII.] PASSAVA. 255 cross a deep torrent-bed in the middle of the eastern branch of the plain, and pass over the hills which divide the two branches of the plain, and which run directly up from the sea into Bardhunia ; we then descend into the western branch, through which flows the river of Pas- sava, deep and rapid, coming from the higher Taygetum. We cross this stream, where it is joined by a smaller river from the west, and in a quarter of an hour ascend another range of low hills, on which are several dispersed huts and pyrghi, all known by the name of }Lar^ > tcx.ovviocv(Ka. At one of these, my con- ductor stops to drink wine. Soon after, we halt fifteen minutes at one of the hamlets, where is a pyrgo belonging to Lambro, son-in-law of one of the Bey's nephews, and then descend the hill into a little narrow valley, well-cul- tivated "with corn, and watered by a stream called Turkovrysi, which joins the sea not far from Vathy. Its source is a pool midway be- tween the fort of Passava and the village of Karvela, which latter stands one mile and a half west of Passava. After flowing through a nar- row vale, which extends from Karvela to the foot of the hill of Passava, the stream passes through a gorge, which divides the hill of Pas- sava from the Makryaraki, then turns south through the vale, where we cross it on the 256 PASSAVA. [chap. VII. eastern side of Passava, and reaches the sea be- tween Cape Petali and Vathy. Towards the sea a ruined pyrgos of the Cavaliere is visible on a hill, and Vathy on an opposite cape. After passing the Turkovrysi at 10.28, I as- cend on foot the hill of Passava, which resem- bles that of the castle of Mistra, but with less than half its dimensions. The summit is occu- pied by a ruined fortress, consisting of a battle- mented wall, flanked with one or two towers, and without any ditch. Within are the remains of gardens and houses, and the ruins of one build- ing of larger size. In the eastern wall, towards the southern end, I find a piece of Hellenic wall, about fifty paces in length, and two-thirds of the height of the modern wall. It is formed of large masses, some of four feet long and three broad, not accurately hewn as in the second order, nor quite rude as in the first, and requir- ing only here and there a small stone in the interstices. There are no stones so large as many of those at Tiryns and Mycenae. In a corn field, below the wall, I find a fragment of a large ancient vase, an inch and a half in thick- ness ; it was a part of the edge of the vase's mouth ; round it are the letters % O f A 1 & Iw %. ¥ of a very ancient form. From these remains, slight as they are, it CHAP. VII.] PASSAVA. 257 cannot be doubted, I think, that Passava was the site of Las, distant, as Pausanias a tells us, ten stades from the sea, and forty from Gythi- um, for these data agree very well with Passava, and it is satisfactory to find remains indicating a remote antiquity on the site of a city which contributed to the Trojan expedition, and which is connected with the earliest transactions of the Laconic mythology. The Dioscuri were called Lapersse from having besieged and taken Las b . The Bey's secretary, indeed, who had heard of Las, or, as he called it, Laspolis, endea- voured to persuade me that it was situated at a place in Bardhunia, two hours and a half from Marathonisi, though he could not say whether there are any remains on the spot he mentioned. If there are, it was, perhaps, the site of Crocece. From the summit of Passava are seen, on the neighbouring mountains, the following vil- lages, beginning from the right: Parakhora, Karvela, Skamnaki, Panitza. At Skamnaki, ancient coins and sepulchres are said to be found. These villages lie in a line between the n.w. and w. The district is called Malevri, it ex- tends westward as far as that of Vitylo, and comprehends Kelefa, where is a ruined Vene- a Pausan. Lacon. c. 24. b Strabo, p. 364. VOL. I. S 258 PASSAVA. [CHAP. VII. tian fortress at the head of Porto Vitylo ; south- ward it confines upon Tzimova, Vakho, and Sku- tari. Between south-west and south, proceeding in the same direction along the mountains, are Karyopoli, Khoriasi, Neokhori, Tzerova, Parasi- ro. On the side of the hill of Passava I perceive several of the plants in flower, of which the Bi- shop of Mistra gave me a dish one day at his table. Having stripped off the leaves, they dress the cen- tre of the stalk, which is tender, and resembles asparagus ; when the flower is formed, the sea- son is past. The plant is called here mrZiy- xiccyzovy but at Mistra maniates, as coming from the mountains of Mani. To botanize * in search of esculent wild herbs in the spring and early summer, is a common occupation of the women of Greece, those herbs forming an important part of the food of the poor during the fasts of that season. In the summer they have no such resource, and in the long fast which precedes the feast of the Panaghia, on the 15th of August S. V., the patient has little but the gourd tribe to depend upon. The sum- mer productions of the garden, however, which depend on irrigation, such as gourds, cucumbers, badinjans, water-melons, &c. are too dear for the poor, or rather are not to be had, as gardening, CHAP. VII.] PASSAVA. 25<) the produce of which is so liable to be plun- dered, can never flourish in a country where property is so insecure as in Turkey. The chief food of the lower classes, therefore, in the summer fast is salted star-fish, olives, goat's cheese, and bread of maize, seasoned with a garlic or onion, and washed down perhaps with some sour wine. No wonder that the great summer's fast sometimes proves fatal, especially to women. The inconvenience is felt in its full force in Mani, where the greatest rigour is ob- served as to fasts. I was present at Dr. W.'s, when a son of the Cavaliere came for some remedy for his mother, who had a sore throat. The doctor recommended a gargle of milk, which the youth rejected w T ith horror. He then applied to be blooded, though in perfect health, this being a common practice among them in the spring. The name of Passava is applied to all the coast between Mavrovuni and the end of the sandy beach, where begins the hill of Vathy, and inland as far as the end of the plain. Re- turning to Marathonisi, I take the road which leads by Paleopoli, instead of that by Mavro- vuni : mounting my horse at 11.55 at the stream of Turkovrysi, near the ruins of a Turkish bath, I pass through the hills at the foot of the Makryaraki, and arrive at 12.24 at Petrovuni, s 2 260 MARATHONISI. [CHAP. VII. a rocky height near the north end of the district of Passava, not far from the right bank of the river of Passava, or river of Arna, as it is often called, from a Bardhunian village of that name near its sources. Having crossed the river, I find, not far from the left bank, some ancient foundations, and a small unfluted column lately brought to light by the rain. Soon afterwards we enter the gorges between Mount Kumaro and the hills which border the vale of Gythium on the north, and at 1.22 descend into that valley. The pass is difficult, and there is no road prac- ticable for a horse. In several places there re- main ancient steps cut out of the rock : at a steep descent, where the side of the rock is cut down perpendicularly, there are fifteen steps quite perfect winding to the right. At the highest part of the pass, from whence both valleys are visible, there are remains of a signal tower. I search in vain for an ancient aque- duct which was described to me. At 1.49 leave the foot of the pass, and at 2.14 arrive at Marathonisi. April 9. — The Bey introduces me to one of the leading men of Mesa Mani a , a district more commonly known beyond its limits by the name of KuxuQovXicc, or the land of Evil Counsel j so a Middle Mani. CHAP. VII.] MANI. 261 notorious are its inhabitants for plundering the unfortunate sailors who are cast on their tempes- tuous, rocky, and unsheltered coast, as well as for more active enterprises of robbery and piracy. This person engages to the Bey for my safety in every part of Mesa Mani, and undertakes to conduct me by land to some ruins at Kyparisso, which, by the description of the place, must be those of Taenarus, or the city of the Taenarii. Mani is divided into three parts ; Outer, Lower, and Inner 3 . The first contains the western coast between the frontier of Kalamata on the north, to Port Vitylo on the south, to- gether with the interior as far as the summits of Taygetum. Its total number of towns and villages are about fifty, in the subdivisions of Zarnata, Andruvista, Milea or Milia, and Zygos, each of which is a bishoprick. Zarnata borders on Kalamata, and lies between the sea- shore and the summits of Taygetum, extending as far south as Cape Kurtissa : the chief place is Sta- vropighi. Andruvista inland, and Skardhamula near the sea, are the chief towns of the bishop- rick of Andruvista. This division lies exactly at the foot of the Makryno, or highest summit of Taygetum ; it extends southward along the coast to Zygos, and borders inland on Milea, a "E|w Mini, Kctrw Mclvr,, MeV« Mum. 262 MANI. [CHAP. VII. which occupies the interior ridges, and confines eastward upon Bardhunia. In its northern part KasUinitza is the principal place. To the south- ward are the towns of Kastania, Arakhova, Milea, and Garbelea. Zygos contains the slope of the mountains adjacent to the coast, from Leftro inclusive to Port Vitylo. Its chief towns are Pyrgo to the northward, Platza in the middle, and Vitylo to the south. Vitylo, how- ever, being separated naturally from the rest of Zygos by a projecting root of the central ridge, and being independent of the captain of Zygos, is often considered a separate district. 2. Mesa Mani comprehends the remainder of the western coast, as far as the peninsula of Cape Matapan, and extends inland to the sum- mit of the mountain, which is separated from the rest of the great Laconic promontory by the pass of Karyopoli, or that opening which reaches from about Skutari on the eastern coast, to Porto Vitylo on the western. Mesa Mani is chiefly a kind of rugged elevated plain, from two to four miles in breadth, lying between the mountain and a range of lofty cliffs which bor- der the coast. This division of Mani has about thirty-five villages, of which Tzimova, at the northern extremity, is the largest; though its in- habitants, with those of five villages near it, are anxious to be considered separate from the re- CHAP. VII.] MANI. %63 mainder of Inner Mani, which forms more par- ticularly the Kakavulia, or land of Evil Counsel. 3. Kato Mani contains about forty- five vil- lages, and includes the whole eastern coast, from Porto Kaio to the Plain of Elos. It bor- ders upon Mesa Mani as far as the pass of Karyopoli, and upon Exo Mani to the north- ward of that opening. At the northern extre- mity it confines upon Bardhunia, which occu- pies, on the eastern side of Taygetum, the space corresponding to the northern part of Exo Ma- ni on the western. The subdivisions of Kato Mani are Marathonisi, Skutari, Malevri, Vakho, Kolokythi, and Laghia. It will be found that the total number of towns and villages in Mani, according to the preceding estimate, is about 130, instead of 117, the number before mentioned. The latter I find to be the general statement, and it is exactly confirmed in a poetical enumeration of them which I possess, and in which every village is named. But whenever I inquire of a native of any particular district, he gives me a greater number of names than in the poetical catalogue. This is easily accounted for by the dispersed mode of building, and partly perhaps by new villages having arisen since the poem was writ- ten, which seems to have been at least ten years ago. 264 BARDHUNIA. [CHAP. VII. Mani contains seven bishopricks, Zarnata, Andriivista, Milea, Platza, Maini, Kolokythi and Karyopoli. Maini includes the whole of Mesa Mani ; Kolokythi comprehends the country from Porto-Kaio to the bay of Skutari ; and Ka- ryopoli contains all the northern part of Kato Mani. The first and last of these bishopricks belong to the ecclesiastical province 3 ofLacedae- monia, the rest to that of Monembasia. I have not been able to learn exactly the date of the Albanian colonization of Bardhunia, though it is certainly within the last century. The district derives its name from a fortress similar to those of Passava, Maini, Kelefa, and Zarnata in Mani. They were all, I believe, ori- ginally constructed by the Byzantine princes, to keep these mountaineers in order, and were for the last time repaired, about 100 years ago, by the Venetians, when they were in possession of the Morea. The remains of the fortress of Bardhuni are near Arna. Bardhunia compre- hends all the southern face and roots of the great Taygetum, to within a short distance of the coast above Trinasus and Gythium. Its villages are, Arna, situated near the sources of the river of Passava ; this village contains five pyrghi, and ninety houses of Turks, one pyrgo, and thirty houses of Greeks: — Strotza, three pyr- CHAP. VII.] BARDHUNIA. 265 ghi, and seventy houses, all Turkish: — Kurtzu- na, two pyrghi, and forty houses, all Turkish: — Tzeria, two pyrghi, and thirty houses, all Turkish. The other villages are Britza, Apano Britza, the residence of Hussein Aga, Tarapsa, the re- sidence of Zalum-Osman Aga, Vigla, Dhafni, Paleo Dhafni, Trizu, Potamia, Alevetzova, Asi- mini, Petrina, Rozova, Gulianika. Some of the latter border on the northern part of Milea; and being in that bishoprick, it may be doubtful whether to include them in Mani or in Bardhu- nia, as sometimes the Musulmans and some- times the Christians, supported by the Maniates, have the upper hand. The Musulmans fight among one another like the Maniates, but at present the power of Amus Aga keeps affairs tolerably quiet. Fort Bardhuni is reckoned three or four hours from Kurtzuna, and as much from Goranus, a village of the Mistra Vilayeti, from whence there is a road along the upper region of Taygetum, as follows : — from Gora- nus to Kumusta one hour, Boliana one hour, Dhipotamo half an hour, Dhoriza half an hour, Sotira half an hour, Sokha two hours, Anavry- ti an hour and a half, Barsiniko one hour. April 10. — I leave Marathonisi at 8.43, and at 9.3, leaving Mavrovuni on the left, descend into the plain of Passava : at 10.2 arrive at the foot of the hills which bound the plain on 2()() TO SKUTARI. [CHAP. VII. the western side, and terminate in Cape Petali. The best part of the plain belongs to Tzanet Bey ; particularly a large tract of vineyards, which my conductor describes as a krasivrysi, or fountain of wine. Corn and kalambokki cover the rest of the plain ; the latter grows in the lower parts, as admitting of irrigation from the river of Passava, which joins the sea at half a mile short of Cape Petali. We cross the hills, of which this promontory is the termina- tion, and which are covered with the yellow- flowered sage-leaved plant called sfaka a , and with broom", now in the utmost luxuriance of blossom, and at 10.35 enter a little plain on the sea-side, where I see men at the plough preparing the ground for cotton, with a dagger and pistols at their girdles. This, it seems, is the ordinary armour of the cultivator, when there is no particular suspicion of danger ; the shepherd is almost always armed with a musket. At 10.47 cross the mouth of a stream coming from a marsh, and some mills on the right ; and at 10.57 that of the Turkovrysi river, whose pellucid waters seem to correspond better than those of the Passava river, with the description of the Smenus by Pausanias. At the end of the beach ascend the cape to Vathy c , a village of twenty houses; arrive at 11.19. A s-Qzku, phlomis fruticosa. h xTTrdKccfy**. ' BccQl. CHAP. VII.] TO SKUTA1U. 2G7 Here I find George, one of the Bey's nephews, living in a miserable house near the Bey's pyr- go, which is much inferior to that of Tzanet at Mavrovuni. Ghiorghio conducts me to some ruins at the foot of the hill of Vathy, on the south-western side, a quarter of an hour from the village ; they consist of the remains of a large building, strongly constructed with stones and Roman tiles ; a semicircular extre- mity, with five windows in it, is still standing entire : the diameter is upwards of twenty yards. There is a similar semicircular ruin close by, and farther up the valley a long arched subterraneous structure, which looks like a Roman cloaca. These, I think, must be remains of Hypsus, or Hypsi. Farther up the country are the modern villages of Karyopoli, Kafki, Neokhori and Panitza, or Banitza. The last is three quarters of an hour from Karvela, At 12.27, proceeding from Vathy across the plain, we pass, at 12.35, a stream flowing from Karyopoli, and leave a rocky height with the ruins of a windmill on the sea-side, to the left. Sepulchres, with skeletons in them, have been found here by the peasants digging in the fields, as well as other vestiges of an ancient site. The place is called Dhikova, which name is ap- plied also to the river and the valley. The Hills around are well cultivated. We arrive at 268 TO SKUTARI. [CHAP. VII. the end of the plain at 12.45, and ascending a low height which connects Cape Kremidhara with the inland hills, come in sight of Skutari\ It is a large village, situated on a steep height overlooking the sea, at the bottom of an exten- sive bay. The whole extent of Cerigo is seen in face of this bay. At 1.20 I arrive at Skutari, and lodge in the pyrgo of Katzano, for whom the Bey has sup- plied me with a recommendatory letter. He is a man of a plain modest manner, civil, and per- fectly ready to answer any questions about his country, a readiness indeed which I have ob- served among all the Maniates with whom I have conversed. A greater share of candour and veracity is a natural consequence of their independence, rendering falsehood and dissimu- lation less necessary than they are to the other Greeks, who have no other arms of defence against their oppressors. The pyrgo, garrisoned at present by fifteen soldiers, whom Katzano keeps in pay, is constructed in the usual Maniate fashion. The lower story is occupied by the garrison, the upper consists of two rooms, or rather of one long room, divided by a slight wooden partition ; at one end is the fire-place and the kitchen furniture, at the other a mat- a Exovtc'p ioi/, the same name of Constantinople. as that of the Asiatic suburb CHAP. VII.] SKUTART. 269 trass for a sofa. Mattrasses and blankets are piled up in one corner of the room ; all the rest of the family furniture is hung about the walls, or stowed away in wooden boxes, ranged around ; the floor consists of loose boards, and, never undergoing ablution, harbours myriads of fleas in winter, and bugs in summer. Katzano has twenty-five persons in his family, of whom nine are his children ; he married at the age of nine- teen, his wife was fourteen ; they have had fif- teen children. The hills around Skutari are cultivated in little terraces covered with wheat and barley, the latter of which is now in ear. The town is full of the ruins of Pyrghi, which have been destroyed in the Maniate wars ; one belonging to the Cavaliere was ruined by the artillery of Hussein, the Capitan Pasha. In the course of conversation, Katzano in- forms me that formerly all the Gligoraki family lived at Skutari, but that John and Antony, alias Zanim and Andon, the heads of the two houses falling out, and all the branches taking part with one side or the other, a dispersion ensued, and Katzano, with his brother Tzingurio, are now the only two of the name in Skutari. Here, as in Khimara, which enjoys nearly the same degree of independence as Mani, the most ordinary state of hostility between two families, 270 SKUTARI. [CHAP. VII. is that of non-intercourse and mutual observa- tion, without any overt act. While the two branches of the Gligorakis were living here in that state, Katzano being then young, he, with his brother and another were sitting on the out- side of a house, when thirteen of the opposite party passed by. Katzano and his friends sa- luted them ; the others returned the salute in an offensive manner, or such at least as Katzano and his friends, who had been drinking, thought proper to interpret as such, and who, without another word, rose and fired upon their oppo- nents. The fire was returned, and both the bro- thers were dangerously wounded. Andon then sallied out of his house with a band of follow- ers, seized eleven of the enemy, and shut them up in a pyrgo, until his nephew's wounds were healed, intending to have had blood for blood if they had died. Many of the Maniate women value them- selves on their skill with the musket. Katza- no's wife said to me, (as I was inquiring on this subject,) pointing to a place about 150 yards distant, " set up your hat there, and see if I cannot put a musket ball through it." I had too much regard for my only hat to trust her, for she has had two wounds in battle, and affects to consider her husband as no braver than he should be. < I1A1>. VII.] SKUTARI. 271 Lambro, a son-in-law of Lambro, the bey's nephew, arrives at Sk atari in the evening, with a train of friends, to request the interference of Katzano on the following occasion. Lambro lives at the Katjaunianika, the place which I passed through near the Castle of Passava. A Kakavuliote, whose brother had been killed by Lambro, thwarted in all his attempts to revenge himself like a man of honour, that is to say, by murdering Lambro, and perhaps rather fearful even of success, on account of Lambro's con- nexion with the government, resolved at least to have the satisfaction of making depredations on his property. This day, in sight of Lambro and his friends, who even fired at the Kakavuliote without effect, he stole a mare belonging to Lam- bro, and rode off with her. The object of the em- bassy was to request Katzano's interference to have the mare restored, and to prevent hostilities, and there seems every reason to believe it will be effected. This shews the good effect of the influence and authority which the Captain Pa- sha has lately obtained over Mani, as enabling the inferiors in command to check the lawless system of retaliation which in their present un- educated state is the consequence of the inde- pendence of this people ; and it leads me to be- lieve, that the best thing that could happen to the Greeks would be for the Turks in every 272 SKUTARI. [CHAP. VII. part of the country to have a similar authority, in such a manner that the Greeks, governing themselves in that sort of municipal form natural to this country, should at the same time be under a control sufficient to save them from the pernicious effects of the spirit of party, to which their character, arising from the same natural causes, irresistibly impels them. If the pashas and other officers in command could maintain discipline among their troops when out of their sight, such a system might be possible in the islands, and perhaps even throughout the Morea; but I fear that Turkish anarchy, bigotry, greediness of gain, and cruelty, render it impracticable. I am informed by Katzano, that beyond the hill which terminates in Cape Stavri, (so the promontory is called, which bounds the bay of Skutari on the south, as Kremidhara does on the north,) there are some ruins called Skopa or Skopopoli, about two hours distant from hence ; they are in the district of Vatas, and near the sea, and consist of arched brick fabrics, like those of Hypsus, but not so well preserved. They are probably the remains of Teuthrone. My host adds, with a grave face, and his as- sertion is confirmed by all around, that the sound of persons tossing over heaps of gold is sometimes to be heard there. Southward of CHAP. VII.] LAS. 273 this place the coast is difficult to debarkation, rising steeply to the summit of the Taygetic ridge. There are however several small villages along the face of the mountain, of which Laghia is the largest. It is from Pausanias alone that we derive any detailed information on the ancient topography of the coast of Laconia southward of Gythium, or, as he expresses himself, to the right of Gy- thium, whence it seems that he very naturally considered a maritime town as facing the sea ; and his expression therefore is worthy of obser- vation, as it may serve to explain his meaning on other occasions, when it might otherwise be ambiguous. His description of the places is as follows a : " To the right of Gythium is Las, ten stades distant from the sea, and forty from Gythium. The place, which is now inhabited, lies between the mountains Ilium, Asia, and Cna- cadium : anciently the city stood on the summit of Mount Asia, where its ruins are still seen, and before the walls a statue of Hercules, and a trophy for a victory gained over some Mace- donians, who, having separated themselves from the army of Philip, when he invaded the La- conice, were ravaging the maritime parts of the country. The ruins contain also a temple of Minerva Asia, said to have been founded by a Pausan. Lacon. c. 24, 25. VOL. I. T 274 LAS, ETC. [chap. VII. Castor and Pollux on their returning in safety from the Colchi, to whom they went with the fleet of Jason ; for according to the Lacedaemonians the Colchi worship Minerva Asia. Near the present city of Las there is a fountain called Cagaco a , from the colour of the water, and near it a gymnasium and an ancient statue of Her- mes. Upon Mount Ilium there is a temple of Bacchus, and on the highest summit of the same mountain a temple of JEsculapius. On Cna- cadium there is a temple of Apollo Carneius. About thirty stades from the Carneium there is a place within the territories of the Spartans, called Hypsi b , where are temples of JEscu- lapius and of Diana, surnamed Daphnsea. On a promontory by the sea-side stands the temple of Diana Dictynna, to whom they celebrate a yearly festival. On the left hand of this pro- montory the river Smenus falls into the sea, in- ferior to none in the sweetness of its water ; its sources are in the mountain Taygetum. Five stades distant from the city c , in the place called Arainus, is a tomb of Las, upon which there is a Cnaco? arctciiovs oil ttXiov irivrt, \v§\ Aga- b I adopt the reading h iva aaXov^ivu x w ^V' T ^ ( P C '? A « Xwe tu "YiJ/ot;- * a ' a^?««f, &c. — meaning that c I suppose that the text Arainus was five stades from ought to be pointed thus;— the city Las, and not the E^st $\ \v rZ oou rZ Txvyiry raj "ver Smenus, as the received ievya,<;. ' Axiyii Si tjjj woAt a>fj text would imply. CHAP. VII.] LAS, ETC. 275 a statue. They say that this Las was the founder of the city, and that he was slain by Achilles. On proceeding from the tomb of Las, occurs the mouth of the river, which is called Scyras, because Pyrrhus the son of Achilles entered the river, which was before nameless, with his ships, when he sailed from Scyrus to marry Hermione. Beyond the river, there is an altar of Jupiter, and a little fur- ther an ancient temple of that deity \ Pyrrhi- chus is situated forty stades from the river, in the interior b . There is a well in the agora of this city, said to be the gift of Silenus, which, if it should fail, the inhabitants would be in want of water. In their district c there is a temple of Diana, surnamed Astrateia, because here the Amazones terminated their progress, there is also a temple of Apollo Amazonius ; the wooden statue in each temple d is said to have been dedicated by those women of the Thermodon. On descending 6 to the sea-side from Pyrrhichus, occurs Teuthrone, reported by the inhabitants to have been founded by the Athenian Teuthras ; they worship above all deities Diana Issoria : they have a fountain called Naia. One hundred and fifty stades GafAOV. d roc. ^octva.. h fiKroyatia.. e xccTccGxvTt. T 2 276 LAS, HYPSI. [CHAP. VII. distant from Teuthrone, is the promontory Tae- narum, &c." The positions in the preceding extract de- pend chiefly upon the strong evidence which the Hellenic wall, and other marks of antiquity at Passava afford of that hill being the Mount Asia upon which the Homeric Las was situated. Which of the adjacent hills was Ilium, and which Cnacadium, is not so clear. We can hardly doubt that the source of the Turkovrysi was the fountain Cagaco. It has been supposed by some of the commentators, from the name Cna- cadium, that the fountain was called not Cagaco but Cnaco a ; and I think the probability is in- creased by the similarity of the name to that of the Cnacion at Sparta ; the water of which stream, moreover, is pellucid like the Turko- vrysi : if the emendation be allowed, the neigh- bouring height is probably the Cnacadium. In any case the distance of thirty stades from Cna- cadium to Hypsi agrees sufficiently with that of Passava from Vathy, to leave little or no doubt of the ruins near the latter place being those of Hypsi. The promontory on which stood the Dictynnceum seems, therefore, to be that called Petali, which bounds the bay of Vath^ on the north-east; and the more so, as, taking the a From ki>>5xoj. CHAP. VII.] PYRRHICHUS, TEUTHRONE. 277 meaning of the words right and left from the instances of Las and Trinasus, in regard to Gythium, we have the river of Passava for the Smenns, a little to the left of the promontory, as Pausanias has placed it. Its sources, as he re- marks, are in Mount Taygetum, a description which will hardly agree with any other stream on this part of the coast. His river Scyras ac- cords exactly also with that called the river of Dhikova, and not less so, the vestiges of anti- quity which are found near the right side of its mouth, at the place called Dhikova, with the site of the temple and altar of Jupiter. The re- mains found at Skamnaki are probably those of Pyrrhichus, its distance from the shore, near Dhi- kova, agreeing with the forty stades of Pausa- nias. It seems to follow, that the ruins at Sko- popoli are those of Teuthro?w, the distance of that place, moreover, from the peninsula of Cape Matapan, agreeing perfectly with the 150 stades of Pausanias between Teuthrone and Cape Tge- narum. His observation, however, that Hypsi was within the boundary of the Spartans a , seems to require some explanation. It appears" that when Augustus relieved the Laconic towns distant from Sparta from their dependence on that a lv o^oti Yi' B. C. 218. 280 TO TZ1MOVA. [CHAP. VII. when, as we learn from Pausanias alone, a pai ty of his Macedonians were cut off and defeated. Nor can it be doubted that Pyrrhi Charax was the same place which Livy calls Pyrrhi Cas- tra a , in relating the movements of Philopocmen and Nabis twenty-six years afterwards. April 11.— At 12.37 I set out from Skutari, having waited until that hour for the arrival of mules from Tztmova witli one of the Mavro- mikhali family, to whose care I am recommend- ed by the Bey. On the western side of Skutari there are plantations of mulberry trees, and a deep gorge on the south, which separates the hills of Skutari from the commencement of the heights of Mount Sanghia b , as the northern part of the southern division of the great Tay- getic promontory is called. At 1.5, having crossed the hills of Skutari, we enter the Vale of Dhikova at the distance of a mile from the sea: at 1.15 cross the river of Dhikova, half a mile south of Karyopoli, and again crossing and recrossing it several times, pass under the hill of Karyopoli, and at 1.37 enter a ravine leading to the south-west. Through this opening comes the river of Dhikova ; on either side are steep rocks forming a very strong pass. At 1.50, emerging from the glen, we enter a mountainous a Liv. 1. 35. c 27- b 'La.yyia.c. CHAP. VII.] TO TZIMOVA. 281 cultivated region, where, in a lofty situation on the mountain, on the left hand, is a monastery of Panaghia Spiliotissa, pleasantly situated in the midst of gardens and cultivated terraces. We continue to follow the river, crossing it and as- cending the hills, first on its left bank and then on its right, till 2.35, when we leave it, now only a small torrent coming through a rocky gorge on the right. I observed in the vale, near a mill, some of the bee-hives which produce the celebrated Ma- niate honey. The hives are made of four slates set up on the edges, with other pieces for the roofs and floors. In some of the stands there are eight or ten hives in a row, and two or three stories of hives, so that at a distance the struc- ture looks like a w-all built of very large stones : the junction of the slates is cemented with plaster. We now enter a little stony barren plain belonging to the village of Vakho % which is situated to the southward on the steepest part of Mount Sanghia. Zanim Bey Jives at Vakho, which consists of about thirty miserable huts. Beyond the plain we enter a narrow pass at 3, with Vakho half a mile on the left. After ascend- ing a very rugged road for half an hour, we come in sight of the Port of Vitylo, as well as of the town of that name, situated on the mountain 282 tzimova. [chap. vn. which rises from the northern side of the port. Then passing at 3.40 under the rocky precipice of St. Elias, which I have already mentioned as forming a termination of the range of Sanghia conspicuous from the eastern shore of Mani, we leave on the left Kurtzuri, in a very elevated situation on the western side of the mountain of St. Elias. Near the foot of the cliff I observe several wheel-tracks of ancient cars in parts of the rock, which are now so rugged as to be im- passable even to a mule. From this spot we de- scend in thirty-seven minutes to Tzimova % a large village situated half a mile inland from the brow of the lofty cliffs, of which all the coast to the southward of Porto Vitylo consists. Gika Mavromikhali b , a stout active Maniate, about sixty years of age, who came from hence on a mule in the morning, and walked back all the way from Skutari, conducts me to his house, where I am soon afterwards visited by Peter Mavromikhali, commonly called Kyr Petruni, who lives at the harbour of Tzimova, half an hour northward of the town, at the foot of the mountain. Petruni, though he does not assume the title of kapitano, enjoys the influence of one over the whole of Mesa Mani. I find also at Tzimova, Poliko Tubaki c of Babaka d , the CHAP. VII.] TZIMOVA. 283 Kakavuliote chieftain who has been ordered by the bey to conduct me through the district. One of the first things Tubaki said to my servant was, " If the bey had not given such precise orders concerning you, how nicely we should have stripped you of all your baggage." These persons tell me they never heard of the plague having been in Mani. The wind is their plague, they say : it often destroys their crops of grain, and has done much damage this year. On this side of the peninsula it is the Greco and Le- vante rushing through the ravines of the moun- tain, on the shore of the Laconic gulf it is the Garbino that does the mischief. Another curse is the want of rain in the month of April, which dries up the ear before there is any sub- stance in it. CHAPTER VIII. LACONIA. From Tzimova to Cape Matapan. — Messa. — C^enepolis. — The Promontories of T^enarum and Thyrides. — Psama- thus — Return to Tzimova. — From Tzimova to Kalamata. — CEtylus. — Thalam.e. — Pephnus. — Leuctra. — Car- DAMYLE. — GERENIA. — AbIA. — PhARjE. April 12. — This morning at 7-20, I leave Tzi- mova, vulgarly pronounced Djimova, accom- panied by a relation of the bey from Skutari, by Gika Mavromikhali, by Tubaki, who has a nephew with him, and by one of the bey's at- tendants from Marathonisi, who was sent hither to prepare mules for me. Most of these per- sons are mounted at my expense, and they are all armed with Albanian muskets, that is to say, with muskets mounted in Albania, the barrels being made in the north of Italy. There is, besides, a guard of twelve men, headed by Kyr Petruni, who accompany me a quarter of a mile out of the town, and then return. At 8.27 we descend into a deep ravine, which rises to a gorge in the mountain, a mile on the left, and on the right ends in a small inlet, or bay, which CHAP. VIII.] TO CAPE MATAPAN. 285 forms a breakin the line of cliffs, and is called Dhikho. This ravine separates the sub-district of Tzimova from the rest of Mesa Mani. Having passed it, we leave Kharia a little on the right at 8.50. At 9-7 Pyrgos is on the right on the edge of the cliff, which overhangs the sea : this place, my attendants say, is hostile to the English, on account of the capture at De- lus not long ago by Capt. Donnelly of the navy, and the subsequent imprisonment at Constanti- nople of twenty-five sailors of a pirate tratta, who were all natives of this village, except the captain, a Cretan \ At 9.20 halt at an old church of 'Aia Marina on the road side, not far from Pyrgos. I here find an inscribed stone in the wall of the church. At 9.40 proceed along the stony level, or rather slope, included between the rocky sides of Mount Sanghia and the cliffs on the sea-side. At 10.30 we are in line with another inlet of the sea, but smaller than that of Dhikho, and more exposed to the westward. At 11, the village of Atja b one of six, (formerly five,) which, from their number, were called the Pendadha c , is half a mile on the left, under a remarkable little peak- ed rock. South of it stands Babaka, or Pabaka, one of the Pendadha, and the village of my con- ductor Poliko. All this country, though stony, a RfflTJUtoj. b 'Ai^a, Or 'Ay.V&. c v Tli'JT^oc.. 286 messa. [chap. vnr. and in appearance poor in soil, is covered with fields of wheat, barley, beans, and fasulia 3 , separated by fences of loose stones ; with more rain and less wind, it would be a fertile district. The road passes between two parallel walls, over the bare rugged rock, where it requires the utmost caution of the mule to secure a footing. At 11.40, we halt at a single house in the fields, opposite to the northern extremity of the great projection of the coast, called Kavo Gros- so. Half-way between that extremity and the line of coast which w r e have been following, is a promontory, called Tigani, with a small bay on either side of it. That to the eastward, which is much the more secure, is called the Port of Mezapo ; it is said to be the best harbour on the western coast of Mani. The promontory of Ti- gani is not high, its flat summit is surrounded with the remains of an Italian fortification, and it is connected with the great peninsula of Kavo Grosso by a low isthmus. This is evidently the situation of the port and Homeric town of Mes- sa, for, independently of the modern name Me- zapo, and the description of Pausanias, the epithet which Homer applies to Messa b , is con- firmed by my guides, who say that the caverns in the cliffs of Cape Grosso abound with wild pigeons. The words of Strabo, regarding Messa, a Kidney-beans. b ttoXvt^uvx t.= MeVo-»v. II. B. v. 582. CHAP. VIII.] HIPPOLA. 287 seem clearly to shew, that he had not himself visited this part of Greece. " It is said," he remarks 8 , " that Messe is not to be found; some affirming that it was Messoa, one of the quarters of Sparta, like Limnaeum, others, that it was an abbreviation of Messene." But Pausanias, who was an uvroirrrit, knew better, and has exactly described Messa in this spot. I found an in- scription at Mistra, containing the name of a man with the adjunct Metro-iog, which we learn from Stephanus to have been the gentile adjec- tive of Messa, and shews that the man was a citizen of this place. In the central and highest part of the penin- sula of Kavo Grosso, there is a conical height which appears artificial, and marks probably the site of Hippola. Between the spot where we halt and the Port of Mezapo, stands a church of 'Aia Varvara b , near a ruined village. Having moved again at 12.48, we leave, at 1.7, the villages of Karina and Mina on the left, in a retired level at the foot of the mountain. At 1.14 cross a bed of a torrent, which flowing from the latter village joins the sea three quar- ters of a mile on our right, at a pyrgo on the shore of the harbour of Mezapo. At 2.3 pass between the villages of Nomia on the right, and Gita c on the left j these are situated on a ridge a Strabo, p. 364. b 'Ay/a B« ? £« ? «. c K^t«, or TkWoc. 288 GITA. [chap. VIII. which unites the height of Cape Grosso with the mountains, and commands a view of all the elevated paralia in one direction beyond Tzi- mova, and in the other nearly as far as 'Alika. The peninsula of Cape Grosso is about six miles in circumference ; it terminates all round to- wards the sea in a high precipice, like that of the coast northward as far as Vitylo. The ground rises in great natural steps from the neighbour- hood of Nomia to the centre of the peninsula of Cape Grosso, which seems to be all either a mere rock, or covered with a scanty layer of soil, cultivated only in a few places. From the foot of the steeps of the great ridge eastward, to the western extremity of the cliffs of the peninsula, there is a distance of three miles in a straight line. The village of Gita has no less than twenty-two pyrghi. In the poetical list of villages which I have already alluded to, the epithet ^oXv^yog is applied to it. It contains eighty or a hundred families. None of the villages we have passed to-day seem to have less than twenty or thirty. At 3 we are opposite the southern cape of Kavo Grosso, within which is a curve, or bay, exposed to the south-west ; from thence, southward to Kyparisso, and almost as far as the peninsula of Cape Matapan, the aspect of the coast changes ; instead of lofty cliffs, the slope is continued CHAP. VIII.] ALIKA. 289 from the steep part of the mountain, quite to the sea-shore. Consequently our road, though con- tinuing at the same elevation above the sea, passes along a steeper slope, and being likewise more stony, becomes, at length, nothing more than a narrow terrace of loose round stones, over which it is impossible to move forward but at the slowest pace: the same kind of road occurred in some places before arriving at Gita. The fences which surround the fields are built of rocks, broken up into cubical masses, and put to- gether without cement. The stone is a coarse- grained white marble, similar to that which was employed at Gythium, and in all the ancient re- mains which I have seen to the southward of that place. That of which the buildings of Sparta were constructed, is of a much finer quality. At 3.50 we pass under the village of Alika, which stands upon the foot of the mountain. In the middle of the village the rock is cut perpen- dicularly to the length of about 150 paces : it seems to have been an ancient quarry. Between Gita and 'Alika we met upwards of 200 asses, laden with brushwood from Porto Kaio, for the use of the villages to the northward. Each train of asses obliged us to halt a minute or two. This great importation of wood is for Easter, when every hearth is employed in roasting lambs. During Lent so strict is the fast that there is little vol. i. u x 290 KYPARISSO. [chap. VIII. need of fire. No people are more rigorous in the observances of the Greek Church than the Mani- ates. A Kakavuliote, who would make a merit of hiding himself behind the wall of a ruined chapel, for the purpose of avenging the loss of a relative upon some member of the offending family, would think it a crime to pass the same ruin, be it ever so small a relict of the original building, without crossing himself seven, or at least three, times. Having descended from 'Alika into the bed of a torrent, we enter, at 4.20, the fences of Kyparisso, once a considerable village, but now reduced to one pyrgo, a chapel, and a house for the priest. My companion of the Gligoraki family says, that his ancestors, as well as those of the Mavromikhali, came originally from hence. The old priest, whose only costume is a jacket with a pair of wide trowsers of coarse blanketing of Maniate manufacture, receives me with an air of cheerfulness and hospitality ; from a consciousness, perhaps, that he has nothing to give us, and that he is more likely to be enter- tained at our expense, than we at his. His house, which adjoins the church, offers, indeed, little hope of supply to the traveller. He points, however, without hesitation, to the only fowl he possesses, as he desires us to " take off its head", imitating the action of a Pasha CHAP. VIII.] KYPARISSO. £0,1 ordering an execution. He makes no difficulty in telling me his history ; he is a Cretan, his mo- nastic name Macarius 3 . After having passed several years as a kaloiero at Mount Sinai, which he says is infinitely worse than Kakavulia, he was sent into Egypt to collect charity for the convent. The temptation was too great ; in- stead of returning with the money into the desert, he came to hide himself in Mani, and has now, for thirty years, been officiating as the priest b of Kyparisso. He hopes to obtain pardon, he says, by his daily prayers, for the crime he has committed, and shews me a sepulchre which he has built for himself behind the church. He then conducts me to something better worth seeing, namely, a small ruined church dedi- cated to Aio Sotiri, or Saint Saviour ; of which the door-posts are two inscribed quadrangular a-TrjXoci, decorated with mouldings above and be- low. One of the inscriptions is by the city of the Tasnarii, in honour of one of its citizens : the other is a dedication of the community of the Eleuthero-Lacones to Caius Julius Laco, son of Eurycles. From these it is clear that this place was the site of Taenarum, called, in the time of Pausanias, Caenepolis, and as it would seem, from the second inscription, the chief place of the Eleuthero-Laconic federation. u 2 29% KYPARISSO. [CHAP. VIII. The Laco mentioned in this inscription is pro- bably the same son of Eurycles who appears from Strabo to have been unable long to main- tain himself in power, after his father's death 3 . Lying in front of the same church, there is a broken pedestal formed like the others, and in- scribed in honour of one of the citizens of Taena- rum. The church occupies, perhaps, the site of the temple of Ceres, mentioned by Pausanias; it stands on the summit of a height of about a mile in circumference, which is bounded to the west and south-west by perpendicular cliffs about forty feet high, washed by the sea ; to the north and west by the torrent we crossed in arriving ; and on the eastern side by a valley covered with corn-fields, which beyond it rise in terraces as high up as the rocky mountain sup- plies any soil for cultivation. On the north, the torrent bed ends in a little inlet of the sea, among the cliffs : to the south, there is a small harbour at the extremity of the valley. Here, probably, stood the temple of Venus. Kyparisso stands about five miles from the isthmus of the peninsula of Cape Matapan. To- wards the sea the hill consists of bare rock ; in the opposite direction the slope is partitioned into very small inclosures by walls of a slaty kind of stone, different from that which I observed on ■ Strabo, p. 366. CHAP. VIII. J KYPARISSO. ^93 the road hither, and piled up, apparently in this place more for the purpose of clearing the land of the ruins, than for that of dividing the fields, which are small inclosures of corn or vines, by no means requiring so many divisions. In this labyrinth of fences and ruined buildings, by the guidance of the priest and a young son of his, (another little irregularity of Papa Maka- rio,) I find dedications to Antoninus Pius, Mar- cus Aurelius, and Gordian, and among other fragments of inscriptions, one which appears originally to have consisted of twenty -six Iambic verses. In none of the inscriptions could I per- ceive the name Caenepolis. In some the Doric form a no ah; is used, in others it is h iioais. The magistrates are entitled Ephori and Ephori Aurelii, and one of them was Strategus. There are several shafts of small columns among the ruins, and two large ones of the finest red granite of Syene, exactly like that of the Column of Diocletian at Alexandria. These are lying on the ground ; but there are also two or three pieces of smaller columns still in their original places, which formed, apparently, part of a large church in the early ages of Christianity, when the ap- pellation of Tsenarum was probably obsolete, and the place flourished under its present name of Cyparissus*. I could not find any capital of a 29^ VATHIA. [CHAP. VIII. column, except some very bad specimens in the church. The priests hut being insufficient to contain our numbers, he resigns his church of the Pa- naghfa to us, where I take up my abode for the night. The eating of a meat supper in the church during the most rigid of Greek fasts, seems to shock the liberal Macarius himself, and we are duly punished by myriads of fleas, which prevent all possibility of sleeping. The whole of our party was strewn upon the floor of the church, and there was only just space suffi- cient to contain them. April 13. After another search this morning for remains of antiquity, I quit Kyparisso at 7.50 for Cape Matapan, taking the road to Vathia % a village placed on the summit of a peaked height, half a mile from the sea, and a mile in a straight line from Kyparisso. The road to the cape quits that of Vathia in a torrent bed near the sea, at the ascent of the hill on which the village stands. This torrent forms the se- paration between Inner and Lower Mani, Va- thia and its Ts^&^a, consisting of three adja- cent villages, being included in Kato Mani, ac- cording to the poetical list. My Mesa Maniate companions, however, do not admit of this ar- rangement, and include every thing on the CHAP. VIII.] MARMARI. 295 western side of the promontory in their own division of Mani. At 8.30 the sea is near us on the right hand, and the village half a mile on our left. We halt five minutes, to allow time to Gika and Poliko to answer the inquiries of a party of armed men from Vathia, who meet us on the road. This village, my guides say, has been divided into two parties for the last forty years, in which time they reckon that about 100 men have been killed. We pursue the summit of the cliffs overhanging the sea, along the side of a very steep mountain, where are some difficult passes, one in particular formed by a wil- derness of immense masses of rock, which seem to have fallen from the brow of the mountain. Every spot of earth on its side which is covered with a little soil, is cultivated in terraces of corn. At 9.38, having arrived opposite the head of Porto Marmari, a dangerous creek in the steep coast, we cross over a part of the neck of land which separates Marmari from Porto Kaio, and which constitutes the isthmus of the peninsula of Cape Matapan. Here we quit the road to Porto Kaio, which leads also by a branch to a mo- nastery on the mountain, above the northern side of that harbour, and turn to the right into the peninsula of Matapan. On the ascent of the hill which forms the isthmus, and which is barely half a mile across in a straight line, I 296 TO CAPE MATAPAN. [CHAP. VIII. have a fine view of Porto Kaio with its monas- tery, surrounded by corn fields in terraces. Proceeding in a south-east direction, we arrive, at 9.55, upon the summit of a ridge, where are some small remains of a Hellenic wall : not above a dozen stones remain in their places. The spot commands to the north a view of Porto Kaio, and to the south-east looks down upon the Port of Vathy ; the latter is a long narrow inlet of the sea open to the south-east, towards which all the intermediate space is covered with terraces of corn. The western side of the peninsula is entirely occupied by the high rocky land of Cape Matapan, which is cultivated in every spot capable of cultiva- tion. Two small kalyvia stand on the eastern face of the mountain ; the western side falls more steeply to the sea, and is not seen from our road. A lower ridge extends along the eastern side of the peninsula from Vathy to Porto Kaio. All the cultivated tract between the two ridges, as well as the two kalyvia, is known by the name of Asomato, which is pro- perly that of a ruined church, near the shore of a small harbour close to Cape Matapan on the eastern side j to this place our path now leads, after leaving another on the left which conducts to the port of Vathy. After passing the di- vision of the roads, we proceed along the side CHAP. VIII.] ASOMATO. l i97 of the western mountain, by one of the kaly via, and then descend to Asomato, where we arrive at 10.30. Asomato, like many other dilapidated churches in Greece, has been repaired in such a manner as to be covered with a roof at the holy table, while the remaining walls are in a state of ruin. This altar-end is formed in part of Hellenic ma- sonry, not quite regular ; the stones, though very large, being not all quadrangular. At the end of this piece of Hellenic wall near the altar a narrow ancient door remains, which is not apparent from within, having been im- mured in converting the temple into a church. Several other parts of the church walls are formed of ancient wrought blocks, but that which is to the right of the altar only is original in its construction and site. This piece of an- cient work is from four to seven feet high, and fifteen yards long. I did not complete the mea- surement of the church, which I had begun, not choosing to offend the prejudices of my guides, who cried zg/fAa, \ when I entered the sanctuary, and partly because the measurement could not have given the exact dimensions of the ancient building, as the Hellenic wall formed a part of one side only, and no traces are to be seen of the opposite wall. The church, instead of facing to the east as Greek churches usually 298 ASOMATO. [CHAP. VIII. do, faces south-eastward, towards the head of the port, which is likely to have been the aspect of the temple. There can be little or no doubt that it was the celebrated temple of the Tsenarian Neptune. 1 could not find any remains of columns. A little farther inland from the ruined church, are several ancient bottle-shaped cisterns cut in the rock. I find the women of the kalyvia washing their linen with the water taken from them. The largest of the cisterns is ornamented round the edge with a mosaic of tiles. The rock near the cisterns has been levelled in some parts, and made perpendicular in others, for the reception of ancient buildings, and in several places there remain steps cut in the rocks. On the north-eastern side of the chapel, a few paces distant, there is a large grotto in the rock, pro- bably that from which Hercules is fabled to have dragged the dog Cerberus ; nor is it any objection to this supposition, that no in- terior cavity or semblance of subterranean de- scent is to be seen within the cavern, for Pau- sanias remarks the same circumstance. The only ancient monument which I could find near this famous entrance of the Infernal Regions, was a large broken square stele on the shore of the harbour, piously inscribed by some fair Taena- rian in honour of her father. A quarter of a CHAP. VIII.] CAPE MATAPAN. 299 mile southward of the inner extremity of the port, a low point of rock projects into the sea from the foot of the mountain : this, the natives of the peninsula say, is the real Kavo Matapan, the southernmost point of Greece and of all Europe. Eastward of it there is a rock con- nected with the shore, in which is seen a great cleft, and opposite the point itself, a rocky islet called Katergaki. A more remarkable point than Matapan itself, is that to the south-east, which divides Asomato from Vathy, and shel- ters the latter harbour towards the south ; it is more separated from the rest of the peninsula, but is not so high and steep as the land above Cape Matapan. Pausanias thus describes the Taenarian dis- trict 3 : " One hundred and fifty stades distant from Teuthrone is the promontory Taenarum, and the ports Psamathus and Achilleius ; at the Cape there is a temple resembling a cavern b , and before it a statue of Neptune. Some of the Greek poets have feigned c that Hercules here led forth the dog of hell, though there is no passage through the cave into the earth d , nor, indeed, is it probable that there exists any subterraneous dominion of the gods where souls are collected. a Pausan. Lacon. c. 25. d ours otto y?voJo»tf»« tow ottij- h -iulq l\y.aa - c Tznyn. A b*gu«. g Strabo, p. 363. CHAP. VIII.] PROMONTORY T/ENARUM. 301 through which it was fabled a that Cerberus was dragged out of hell by Hercules." I am surprised to find that the Tsenarian pro- montory has not been well described, either in ancient history or in any modern book or map, in short, that there is nothing to indicate that Taenarum is in fact a peninsula of circular form about seven miles in circumference, connected with the end of the great Taygetic promontory by an isthmus which is about half a mile wide in direct distance. It was not until I saw its real conformation, that I could understand why Pausanias, coasting the Laconic Gulf from the northward, names Psamathus and Achilleius after the promontory Taenarum b . It is evident that the whole peninsula was considered as the promontory ; in fact, it is only in this manner that his distance of forty stades between Caene- polis and the promontory can be justified, that is to say, by measuring it to the nearest part of the peninsula. The word ctz7r}, applied to Taa- narum by Strabo, seems to allude also to the peninsula, for cacrn was strictly applicable to a coast of this description, and was employed with the same import in the instances of Attica and of the Thracian Acte which contained Mount Athos. The word Matapan I take to be exactly, or very nearly, the Laco-Doric, or per- 302 THYRIDES. [CHAP. VIII. haps the still more ancient local form and pronun- ciation of the word Meranrov. The accents indeed differ, but the dialects differed sometimes from the common Hellenic in accents as well as in vowels. It is probable that the whole penin- sula was known by the name of Tct'tvugov az^oc or ccx-t/j, and its extreme promontory by that of ro MccTctwoiv, while the small harbour of Aso- mato, the temple of Neptune, and the habita- tions around it, may have been distinguished by the name of Posidonium. The remark of Strabo, that Amathus 3 occurs next to Cape Taenarum in entering the Laconic gulf, leaves little doubt as to the situation of Psamathus at Porto Kaio, for here are some remains of an ancient town, and it is not credible that Strabo should have noticed Vathy to the exclusion of the more important harbour, Porto Kaio. It will follow that Vathy was the Achilleius of Pau- sanias. Thyrides is another point on this coast of which it required an actual inspection, in order to understand the ancient allusions or remarks concerning it. Strabo describes it as a pouhr\g zgqftvog, " a precipitous cape beaten by the waves"; Pausanias, as a promontory b situated thirty stades to the northward of Caenepolis, and 150 stades distant from GEtylus c . Though * 'Af/.x8ov$, lege Y a.fj.u.Qovc. b a^«. c Now Vitylo. CHAP. VIIT.] THYRIDES. SOS these descriptions agree in every respect with Cape Grosso, they omit to give any idea of the dimensions of that remarkable promontory, which is a large peninsula like the Taena- rian, nearly of the same dimensions, but of a more oval shape, and connected with the con- tinent by a much wider isthmus. Another difficulty in regard to the topography of this coast, is the remark of Strabo, that Thyrides was the boundary of the Messeniac gulf. But this also is at once explained by an examina- tion of the places, for we find that the lati- tude of Thyrides and of the Taenarian Cape is so nearly the same, that Thyrides conceals the view of the Taenarian promontory from every part of the Messeniac gulf, except the immediate vicinity of its south-western promon- tory, Cape Acritas. All the Taenaria, there- fore, between Capes Grosso and Matapan was a coast not belonging to either gulf. Homer 8 seems to have correctly understood the extent of the Taenarian district, which, as we have seen, comprehended all the coast between the penin- sulas Thyrides and Taenarum, including all the a Hug ot AocKoivtou. yu7a.v, ocXurri^avov irTohleQgov "l£ov, xai %«§°> Ti^ifJo^orov HfTuoto Taiva^ov, £»9» re fjwXa. (3oc.Qvt^x&' @Qay.tr the date of the vain and cruel attempt of the Russians to revolu- tionize the Morea with a force of 600 men, the Maniates were subject to a nominal tribute of fifteen purses, which they never paid. When the insurrection was quelled, the Kapitan-Pasha Hassan proceeded against Mani, and obliged the Maniates to submit to the terms of being governed by a Bey of their own choosing, ap- proved of by the Porte, and of paying a yearly tribute of thirty purses to the Porte and five to the Kapitan-Pasha. John Kutufari, of Zarnata, who made the treaty, was appointed Bey : he died a natural death at the end of three years. Michael Trupaki, of Skardhamula, succeeded CHAP. VIII.] MANI. 317 him, but being accused of possessing a tratta which, before he had succeeded to the beyship, had made depredations upon some European vessels, — an ambassador at Constantinople hav- ing countenanced the complaint, and Michael having no money to prevent the effects of it, the Captain Pasha came to Mani, took him on board his ship, and decapitated him at Mytiiini. John Gligoraki, his successor, commonly called Tzanet, or Zanim-bey, was in office fifteen years, when, being accused of too much friendship with the revolutionary French, about the time when the latter first became formidable to the Porte, he was succeeded by Komunduro, of Kitries, his accuser, who had generally maintained a good understanding with the Turks, and with whom Tzanet had constantly been at war during his beyship. Komunduro, after a reign of seven years, was two or three years ago deposed and sent to Constantinople, where he died in the Bagnio : he also had been accused, by the In- ternuncio, of having shared in the plunder of an Imperial ship which had been seized upon by a brother of Peter Mavromikhali, who having taken his passage from Leghorn to Maina on board the Imperial ship, together with all the Maniate crew of a vessel of his own, which had been lost in going from Mani to that port, rose upon the Austrian seamen and carried the ship 318 MANI. [CHAP. VIII. into Mani. Antony Gligoraki, the present Bey, succeeded Komunduro ; he has done his utmost to assist the Turkish government in destroying the trattas and pirate boats of the Maniates, and in reducing them to submission : all the best part of Mani, however, viz. Zarnata, An- druvista, Milea, and Kastania, are against him, and more inclined to his enemy Tzanet, and his son Peter, the Bey-Zaade, who is their hero. Khristea, the captain of Zygos, is a neutral, hav- ing married a Mavromikhali, being personally a friend of Hassan Bey, and being carefully culti- vated by Kyr Petruni, the chief support of the Andon interest on the western coast j Khristea, therefore, adds no strength to the party of Tzanet, though obliged to live on good terms with that party on account of his position in the midst of them. On the eastern coast, between Skutari and Porto Kaio, Andon has many enemies ; in fact his power, as a Turkish lieutenant, is dis- agreeable to the Maniates in general, though they are too weak at sea to dispute it : their family quarrels are a great assistance to the Turks. These are often changing, and they have a pro- verb relating to their politics, Mocvioctikoc Mtjvicl- riKot, a . Each person of power and every head of a family of any influence has a pyrgo, w T hich is a Monthly. CHAP. VIII.] MANI. 319 used almost solely as a tower of defence : the ordinary habitation stands at the foot of it. The Bey's relations and a few of the Kapitani main- tain some soldiers in their towers, but in gene- ral these buildings are uninhabited, except in time of alarm. To overturn the pyrgo of the enemy and to slaughter as many of his relations as possible, are the objects of every war. The tower has loopholes in the different stories and battlements at top, and he that can get a rusty swivel to plant upon them is not easily subdued. Most of the ordinary dwellings are built with loopholes in the walls ; nor are the villages, in which there is no inhabitant of sufficient opu- lence to build a pyrgo, the more peaceable on that account, but quarrel either among them- selves or with their neighbours, and endeavour to overturn one another's houses just like their betters. Every pyrgo has a cistern, which has an arched covering of stone, with a little wooden door kept constantly locked. The villages, also, in general, have cisterns in or near them. The cactus is very commonly grown round the villages for the sake of the fruit, and these with a few figs, and grapes, and some of the com- monest esculent vegetables, are the only hor- ticultural productions of Mani. April 16.— This morning I sail from Port Vi- tylo in a little kaik belonging to Kyr Petruni, 320 TO KITRIES. [CHAP. VIII. a brisk Levanter blowing from the opening be- tween Vitylo and Kelefa. But no sooner have we turned the cape on the northern side of the harbour than the breeze is succeeded by a dead calm with a great sea from the southward, the certain prognostic of a strong wind from that quarter. After rowing for seven miles under steep cliffs we are abreast of Ai Dhimitri, a pyrgo and village on the sea-side, opposite to which is a little island, three times as large as our boat, so the sailors describe it. Above it is situated the town of Platza, the chief place in Zygos, between which and the ridge separating Zygos from Vitylo, on the road to the latter, are Langadha and Poliana. Three miles be- yond St. Demetrius is Leftro, a pyrgo and vil- lage, the residence of Captain Khristea; be- tween the two places the slope of the mountain is covered with olives, and at the head of it, just under the mountain, in a green looking glen, stands 'Izina a , a village belonging to the district of Milea. Not far above Leftro is the town of Pyrgo. I had intended to stop at Leftro, the only place in this part of Mani which the state of parties and family alliances admitted of my visiting ; but a fresh sirocco coming on with a heavy sea, we are obliged to steer direct for Cape Kurtissa. a 'l£riva. CHAP. VIII.] TO KITRIES. 321 Beyond St. Demetrius, the high cliffs termi- nate which characterize this shore from Kavo Grosso northwards, and they are succeeded by a regular, fertile slope extending from the steeps of Taygetum to the sea-side. The peak of St. Elias, or Makryno, appears nearest to the coast, at about half-way between Leftro and Skardhamula, which latter is four or five miles from Leftro; and has an island opposite to it upon which there is a monastery. Behind Skar- dhamula a deep ravine descends in a direct line from the Makryno to that place ; between Leftro and Skardhamula there are some fine olive plant- ations. From the latter place to Cape Kurtissa, which is five miles distant, the coast is a steep rock, but not very high. Our little boat ships some seas, and being heavily laden and low- masted, we are in some danger from the effect of the high waves, which follow us and take the wind out of our sails : but the Maniates are good boatmen, and with cautious steer- ing we arrive safely under the lee of Cape Kur- tissa. Kitries a lies at the bottom of a bight, a mile and a half east of the cape : we arrive at 12.30, and find the frigate of Seremet Bey and a corvette anchored in the road. By land the distance from Kitries to Vitylo is reckoned ten a Kir^ocU, the citron-trees. VOL. I. V 322 KITRIES. [CHAP. VIII. hours, — three hours and a half to Skardhamula, from thence to Leftro one hour and a half, and five more to Vitylo. The distance by the road is not more than thirty miles, but so rugged in some parts that it cannot easily be done in less than twelve hours, except by a Maniate on foot. Having landed, I call upon the Cavaliere Dhimitrio Gligoraki, who offers me his apart- ments in the house of the Bey ; but I prefer lodging in one of the magazines by the sea side. The pyrgo of the Bey and adjoining buildings are large, and agreeably situated on a height above the sea. The hills around are covered with terraces of wheat, which is now in ear and already beginning to look yellow at the bottom of the stalk ; it will be spoiled, they say, if there is no rain. Corn in Mani is all sown in the first rains of autumn, i. e. September and October. In the highest villages of Taygetum, where the snow covers the ground all the winter, it is reaped in August, and sown again in Sep- tember : the produce is there three or four to one. In the most fertile parts of Mani ten to one. In the best lands of Messenia, where it is sown in November and December, ten to one is common ; sometimes the return is as much as twenty to one, and with artificial irrigation still more. At the head of a little valley behind the CHAP. VIII.] KITRIES. 323 beach of Kitries, immediately under a rocky gorge in the mountain, I find a very large cavern answering to that described by Pausa- nias a at Gerenia, except that the entrance is not narrow, as he says ; it may, perhaps, have been widened in order to be made more convenient as a (Accvdgoti or sheepfold, for which it now serves. There are two or three sepulchral niches in the side of the cliffs about the valley, enough, I think, with the other data of Pausanias, to leave little doubt of Kitries being the site of Gerenia. Besides the Bey's pyrgo and its dependen- cies, the only buildings at Kitries are five or six magazines near the sea. In one of these I found a singular personage, a Turk keeping a shop in a country of Greeks. The Cavaliere is a sensible, quick, conversable character ; he tells me that he was strongly in- vited to go to England in 1795, when at Petro- poli b , by an English ambassador who understood Greek, and that the empress hearing of it shut him up. Such is his story. The pyrgo was built by Tzanet Kutufari, and was the residence of the Bey of Mani, until Tzanet Gligoraki having built his castle at Mavrovuni, made that place his residence ; the present Bey intends to reside at Marathonisi. The district of Zarnata lies between Kitries and Skardhamula, and ex- a Pausan. Lacon. c. 26. b Petersburg. y2 324 TO KALAMATA. [CHAP. V11I. tends inland to the highest ridges of Taygetuni; in the midst of it, at the distance of an hour and a half from the sea, are the ruins of the fortress of Zarnata, which Coronelli describes to have been taken by the Venetians in the year 1685, when it had a garrison of 600 Turks and fifty-one pieces of cannon. Between the years 1771 and 1780, Kitries was the chief resort of European vessels in the south of the Morea, where they loaded the vallonea, vermilion, oil, -figs, &c, of Messe- nia and Laconia. It possesses a great advan- tage for this object in the security of the har- bour, and its position westward of Cape Mata- pan. April 17. — At 7.5 I leave Kitries for Kala- mata, and proceed along the summit of the cliffs which overhang the sea beach, but which are interrupted, at 7*43, by the ravine of a wide tor- rent descending from Taygetum ; at 8.10 arrive at Palea Mandinia a : here is nothing but a church with some remains of Hellenic buildings on the side of a hill, in which there is an opening leading through the cliffs to the shore. The two villages of Mikri and Megali Mandinia stand on the side of the mountain a mile eastward of Old Mandi- nia, and contain together 100 houses. How the Hellenic name of Mantineia came to be attached a Mamma. CHAP. VIII.] TO KALAMATA. 325 to these ruins, it is difficult to conjecture ; for the site is certainly that of Abiae. Here are some fine fields of wheat, which women are now clearing of weeds. As we pass, one of our party asks them what they are doing, (3ora,v/£p- pzv is their Laconic answer. At 8.25, leaving the church, we soon after- wards descend upon a sea beach formed of large pebbles ; and then pass under a perpendicular cliff clothed with myrtles and ivy. At 8.55 arrive at a mill turned by a stream strongly im- pregnated with salt, which issues very copiously out of a cavern at the back of the mill, and below it runs in a large body into the sea. The place is called Armyro a , from this salt river, and the same name is attached to the anchorage oppo- site to it, which serves as the port of Kalamata in winter, when ships cannot safely remain in the roadsted off that town. After a five mi- nutes' halt, we move forward along the stony beach, and soon after passing a naked projec- tion of the mountain, which terminates in a cliff, arrive at 10 on a sandy beach, the south- eastern angle of the great Messenian Plain. At 10.15 enter olive plantations. The village of Selitza, in the Maniate district of Zarnata, is situated to the right, near the cliffs of the mountain, but is not in sight. These cliffs some- times break off in large masses, an occurrence a 'AXfjLv^ov or 'A^v^ov. 326 KALAMATA. [CHAP. VIII. which, among the Zarnatiotes, is considered prophetic of the fall of some great Maniate captain. I observe that all the olive trees are young, the old trees having been destroyed by the Maniates, or their opponents the Turks, in the course of their wars. The destruction of olive trees is one of the greatest calamities to which the inhabitant of Greece is exposed in war : there is scarcely any thing analogous to it in more northern countries. A most fruitful pro- duction of very slow growth, which has afforded food and profit for centuries, and which in the course of nature might last as much longer, is destroyed in a moment. At 10.26 we cross a brook ; at 10.35 on the left is a pyrgo belong- ing to the Kavaleraki, as they call the son of Dhimitrio Gligoraki. The ground is covered with great quantities of wild lavender in blos- som, here called Xcc^oca-rcc^cc. We now enter the olive and garden grounds which surround Kalamata ; they are fenced with the cactus, or prickly pear, but the fences are imperfect and the gardens ruinous — an effect of the frontier situation. Arrive at Kalamata at 10.45. The first object that strikes the traveller on entering Kalamata, is the ruined mansion of Benakhi, which, like that of Krevata at Mistra, was destroyed by the Turks after the insurrec- tion of 1770, in which the heads of those two Greek families took a part. The son of Benakhi CHAP. VIII.] CETYLUS, THALAMUS. 327 is now Russian Consul at Corfu, and still enjoys the rents of a considerable estate here, which are collected by a married sister, living in a pyrgo in the town. I proceed to the house of Kyr Elias Tzani, whose brother, Dhimitrio, is Hodja-bashi of the place, but now absent at an assembly of all the Hodja-bashis a at Tripolitza, where the Pasha has summoned them to consider of the means of supporting the reinforcements destined for the Morea. I shall now trace the progress of Pausanias from Messa, along the western side of the Tay- getic promontory, as far as Pharag b , for the pur- pose of justifying the ancient names which I have assigned to some of the places in passing, and of shewing, in conclusion, that Kalamata stands on the site of Pharce. " The distance from the harbour of Messa to CEtylus was 150 stades. The things worthy of remark in CEtylus were, a temple of Sarapis, and in the agora a wooden statue of Apollo Carneius. From CEtylus to Thalamas the length of the road was about eighty stades ; in the way there was a temple of Ino, and an oracle by means of the interpretation of dreams. In the open court of the temple stood brazen images of Paphia and of the Sun, and there was an- other statue in the temple said also to have been of brass, but it was difficult to be seen, on account a XoT*a.p7rct^s ^tx^oj rent, according to Strabo, was m^i A&vy.T^ov ptwv to Aax&mxoi/, called the little Pamisus ; the t £ ?' oi > w*V» '^x " M«<™V»o* Messenians pretended that it *fc AWa^oviot/? for! 4>.*»V- ^ -n • \ ' \. mv. btrabo, p. 361. was the Pamisus which sepa- l rated Messcnia from Laconia, CHAP. VIII.] CARDAMYLE, GERENIA. 329 Cardamyle, mentioned by Homer among the places offered by Agamemnon (to Achilles), was in subjection to Sparta, the Emperor Augustus having separated it from Messenia. It was dis- tant from the sea eight stades, and from Leuctra sixty : not far from the sea there was a sacred inclosure of the daughters of Nereus, and in the town sanctuaries of Minerva and of Apollo Carneius. " The city called Enope by Homer, though inhabited by Messenians, belonged to the com- munity of the Eleuthero-Lacones, and was named Gerenia. Some affirmed that Nestor was a native of this city a , others that he fled hither when Pylus was taken by Hercules. It contained a sanctuary, a sepulchral monument, and an upright brazen statue of Machaon, son of iEsculapius : the place was called Rhodus. On the head of the statue there was a crown, which, in the provincial dialect of Messenia, was called x,i(pog. In the district of Gerenia, on a mountain called Calathium, there was a temple of Claea, and close to it a cavern ; the entrance was narrow, but within there were things worthy of being seen. Thirty stades above Gerenia, towards the in- terior, was Alagonia, a city numbered among the Eleuthero-Lacones, and which contained temples of Bacchus and of Diana." Here end the Laconica of Pausanias. In the thirtieth 330 ALAGONIA, ABIA, ETC. [CHAP. VIII. chapter of the Messenica he resumes the same route at the valley Chcerius, which was the boundary of Laconia and Messenia a : its dis- tance from Gerenia he has omitted to men- tion. " Twenty stades ", he says b , " from the ravine Chcerius c , stood Abia, a city on the sea-side, anciently called Ire, and one of the seven which Homer represents to have been offered by Agamemnon to Achilles. Here were a celebrated temple of Hercules and an Ascle- pieium. Pharae was seventy stades distant from Abia ; in the way thither was a salt stream. " d The modern name of CEtylus is BoirvXog, pronounced Vitylo, and this is probably the ancient dialectic form without any change, except perhaps in the sound of the B. The initial B was often in the JEolic a substitute for the digamma or aspirate. Thus the Elei- ans, who spoke a kindred dialect, used B«Jy e , "Botvua, f , for $v, Olvorj. In an intermediate age we find the name written by Ptolemy BtrvXcc ; but the geographer was probably misinformed as to the orthography ; for it cannot be supposed to have been less correct then than it is now. The small island, compared by Pausanias to a great rock, and which my Maniate sailors described as not being larger than a boat, a Pausan. Messcn. c. 1. A ilu% olK^v^ov. b Pausan. Mcssen. c. 30. e Pausan. 1. 5. c. 3. c tvc vasTK t>5? Xoiotov. f Strabo, p. 338. CHAP. VIII.] ARMYRO. 331 marks the position of Pephnus, as the name of Leftro fixes the site of Leuctra, and that of Skardhamula Cardamyle. Another little island, which has not been noticed by Pausanias, forms the harbour of Skardhamula. That town is situ- ated, as the Greek traveller has observed of Car- damyle, a little above the coast, and, as Strabo adds, on a strong rocky height 1 . It is possible that the modern name 'Zxazha.pov'ka, represents exactly the ancient local pronunciation, for the final A instead of H is Doric or iEolic ; the V or upsilon in the most ancient times certainly represented the sound which was afterwards expressed by OT in Greek, but which in Latin always preserved its original representative, — and the initial K and SK were often convertible. Of the points in the road from Gerenia to Pharse, there is one so marked by the hand of nature as to leave no doubt of the identity ; this is the stream of salt water which gives to the place itself, as well as to the oppo- site anchorage, the name Armyro, the very word by which Pausanias has described the water. As Palea Mandinia and Kalamata both bear evidence of having been the sites of Hel- lenic cities, as the Armyro occurs in the road from the one to the other, and as the interval of seventy stades between them, given by Pau- sanias, agrees exactly with the two hours and a a ?7T4 7tet^«? l$vpm. Strabo, p. 360. 33 c 2 CHGERIUS. [note to quarter of time distance, at the usual rate of thirty stades to the hour, the evidence would be sufficient to determine both the positions, even were not the presumption as to Pharae confirmed by other testimony, as will be seen in the sequel. Although the twenty stades of Pausanias between Chcerius and Abia exceed my time distance between the torrent which interrupts the rocky coast northward of Kitries, and the Hellenic remains at old Mandinia, there can be little doubt that the ravine of that torrent is the vccirn intended by the Greek traveller, there being no other on this coast, and such a torrent being well suited to a boundary. ADDITIONAL NOTE TO CHAPTER VIII. I have alluded more than once in the preceding pages to a poetical description of Mani. I found the manuscript in the possession of one of the ecclesiastics of the bishop's family at Mistra, of whom I was making inquiries concerning Mani, and he allowed me to take a copy of it. It appears to have been written by a S^xaxccXo; residing in some part of the north of Mani, perhaps at the court of Tzanet Bey, and apparently not long after a celebrated defeat which Kumunduro sustain- ed from the latter chieftain, when supported by a Turkish squadron from Kitries, Kumunduro advanced from Zaraata CHAP. VIII.] MANI. 333 to Andruvista, but was defeated and fled, while the Turkish Seraskier with difficulty and great loss re-embarked at Skard- hamula. I shall subjoin some extracts from this piece, cer- tainly not for the sake of its literary merit, in which it is on a par with the other poetical effusions of modern Greece, but as a specimen of the southern dialect of this country, and as a native description of the topography and manners of Mani. The poem is in 314 lines, more than a third of which is a poetical catalogue of the 117 villages, interspersed with a few descriptive verses. After a short description of " the mountain Taygeton, by the moderns called Makrynon, in which those unfortunate Spartans, now called Maniates, took refuge in order to save their life and liberty ", the poet proceeds to enumerate in verse the names of all the 117 villages arranged under their three divisions and subordinate districts. Tzanet Bey is the hero : he is qualified as " the firm co- lumn of his country, the father of orphans, who deserves to govern all Laconia as well as Mani, being hospitable and a great patriot. He has done in Mani ", says the poet, " what no one else ever did before him ; and this I have seen with my own eyes : — A bell marks the hour of supper at his palace. Then all those who hear the bell boldly enter, eat at the bey's table, and depart satisfied. He loves the poor and the stranger, defends his province, persecutes the wicked and pounds them like salt. Thus old and young desire him, all Mani, and all the captains, except the Bey Kumunduraki of Kitries alone, who lives like a hawk, oppressing the poor and robbing them of their property, thinking only of feasting with his lady, while all the country groans. He hoped to possess himself of Milea and tyrannize over it, and even to take Marathonisi. Assisted by the Turk, he pretended to frighten Mani and subject all its government to himself. He brought an army by land, and a squadron by sea, and from Andruvista began to proceed in order. But the valorous young men, the dread- ful captains opposed him. At Skardhamula the meeting took 334 MANI. [note to place — they sprang upon the enemy like lions, one driving a hundred before him — a hundred a thousand — they scatter them to the winds and reduce them to despair. The terrified (Kumiinduro) fled with his land forces, and abandoned the unfortunate Seraskier on the sea-shore. Then if Tzanet Bey had moved a little, and had not neglected the opportunity, Kumiinduro could not have arrested his flight at Kitries, nor at Zarnata, — no, nor at Kalamata." Tlocrplooq arvKov anptov, ruv op(pavuv rcaripoc, Y,rv)v Mocvnv oXyv mpiizi, v.oci elq rrjv Aacy.uivtocv Na tlvou TTguroq ccpy^yoq, voc Ep^ v\yiy.oviocv , Yiocri riTOv tpiKo^ivoq, (pihOTtocrpiq fji.iyoc.Koq' Dt^v Maw (Kocfxi irpccyy.ccrcc birov oiv rot. Kcc/xvei ccWoq. KocfAXccvoc aro itachicri. rov aripocivii Qpocdv yivfx.cc' ToV i'iSoC fjt,i TOO fJlCCTiOC fJCOV, CLVTO SlV UVCCi -^iVfJCCC' Kai ocrot rviv ccxovaovai Qct.pperkx.oc Tryycclvovv, Kai rpuyovv elq r\v ra.Q'Kocv rov xai yoprccafi,ivoi (Syccivov),' Tlruypvq xcci %ivovq uyoarcc, rov roKov rov (pvKccrrn, Ka» rovq y.ocy.ovq rovq y.vvnyoc i rovq Aiaj/6i crccv ochccri' Aia rovro rov l^vrnaccv xect ytgovreq xou i/sot, Kai oX»j v\ Mccvri ccvrrivov x.cu o\oi ol YLairirccvioi, Ef-a acct fxovov car oevrov rov Mttei K.ovfA.ovvrov^ccx.n, llov ocyociroc arov ronrov rov voc <^») crccv ro ytpcon, Kai roiiq itruyovq voc rvpccvvri, ro trpci.yfj.oc rove, v oc^irocCri, Na rpuyvt fj,\ rw SofAvctv rov, x.oct o rotroq beq arivocCp' Keel aryv MvjAsan »?A7ri^£ voc fjjrrt voc rvpocvvlari Na iiocpri hoc) Xnrocvrvy^ocwi xoct ro MccpctQovycn, Me rvv Tovpxtocv rov (pccvrjKE ryv Mccvyv voc r^Ufj.ai\n, K«i ohoc roc xovpiccvroc rnq yioc voc roc v7totcc%y)' Acrx-ipt itfipe artpicc v.cci aro y\ocho apfjcccdcc, Kai octto rr>v AvopovGicrroc ocp^ylvriaiv ocpocdcc, AXK by-uq rov vircevr-naocv ccvdpeuifABvoi veoj, Kai (poQipoi rov SyriKCtcnv bfj.7rpoq Kcanrocvioi' Y,r*iv Y.y.ocpOa.fj.ov'Kccv apiiijccai, Ixsi rov ijTravrvaocv, Kai uaocv roc Ktovrocpioc ccrrocvu rovq irridvaacv' 'O evecs Sw^vbi Ixccrov, ol \x.ctrov y^iKlovq, Kai rovq ocvijj.oay.o^-riaocv, rovq exccfj.ccv duXlovq' Kai rpoiA.cca-jji.Evoq 'ityvyev fj.\ rrtq artptocq r ccax-i^i, Kai aro yicchb TTOcpoclrvas tov /j,ccvoov Tspocay.spr,' CHAP. VIII.] MANI. 335 'Etoti; o T^«v£T/x7rs»i; av JjSeXe QiXrian N« x»v>)0»J oXtyov T4 xa» va fjwv a^ikycjn, O KovjJ.ovvrc,V(>oc. ara'iq KiT^tai; y.ai pyre crrr,y Z.agvacroc.v Atv ri/AVO^ovai va o-raQri, ju.'jte ctvv KaXapdrav. The author then makes some reflections on the ill effects of " the disunion of the Manhites, and the want of ohedience to their chiefs, whence arise civil wars, the destruction of houses and churches, and piracy and robbery " ; all which he ascribes to " ignorance and want of education." a '* Hence disorder and civil wars, and robbery and murder, and ruin and con- vulsion. But, nevertheless, for their country and their li- berty (when it is attacked from without) these men quickly unite and act in concert with fury." Ka» avo rw apatinav yivsrai ara%ia } K. »; «Ta|i« Vpo^Evei y.a\ payan: x.ca xAe^icik, Kai (ponjca, xat 'xaka&y.ovq, xat ax.oi.raarcaricc.ic. AWa ha rnv Ttarppla rov; v.a\ ryv \Xiv§t%lav EnSt;;, tvdv<; [/.ovoyvufAOV)) xai rpiyovv crav Qypta. He then recommends them to establish two or three schools. " That your priests may be instructed and enlightened, and may teach and direct the people ; that your chiefs may learn to govern, and the inferiors to obey their leaders ; that your nation may be esteemed, that the towns and villages may be in peace, and that evil may cease.'' Nos padovv ol TlaTroloBc. era; x«t va ^targaG udoilcri. r»a va dioaijovv rov haov va rov xaQoariyovo-i, Na paQovv ra xovpavra crac va xvSigvovv rove, a\\ov<;, Kal ol /xixgol va KsiQuvrcci crrovc. Tcpurovc, x,ai p.iya'Kovq, Na Ti ( u»)Ur) o roito; aac, yupa\<; va yavyaaovv Na aerivvjcrovv ra yu^ia, x.ai ra x.axa va Travaovv. After this good advice, the poet proceeds to treat of the country southward of Vitylo, where it seems as if he had himself been a sufferer from Kakavuliote hospitality : but his picture, though a broad caricature, is not without some found- ation in truth. After stating that there are twenty-six vil- lages in Mesa Mani, he thus enumerates them : — 336 MANI. [note to " The first is Tzimova, a handsome town and large, go- verned by a captain named Mavromikhali : beyond this place, at the foot of the mountain, is a village called Kuskuni, then Krelianika, Kifianika, Pyrgos, Kharia, Dhryalo, Paliokhora, Krimnos, Babaka, Bryki, Kakiona, Karinia, Kulumi, Mina, Kita the many towered, and Paromia, a village of the same description, Stavri, Kikhrianika, Kunos, Upper and Lower Bolari, Dhry, Kypula, Vathia, 'Alika. These are the villages of Inner Mani in their order. Its principal produce is quails and Frank figs a . There is not a spring of water in all Inner Mani ; its only harvest is beans and lean wheat, this the women sow and reap. The women collect the sheaves at the thrashing floor, winnow it with their hands, and thrash it with their feet, and thus their hands and feet are covered with a dry cracked skin, as thick as the shell of a tortoise. Not a tree, or stick, or bough, is to be found to cover the unfortunates with its shade, or to refresh their sight. At night they turn the handmill, and weep, singing lamentations for the dead while they grind their wheat. In the morning they go forth with baskets into the Lollows to collect dung to be dried for fuel ; they collect it in the houses, and divide it among the orphans and widows. All the men meantime roam about in the pursuit of piracy and robbery, or endea- vouring to betray each other. One defends his tower against another, or pursues his neighbour. One has a claim upon another for a [jmurdered]] brother, another for a son, another for a father, another for a nephew. Neighbour hates neigh- bour, compare compare b , and brother brother. Whenever it happens that a ship, for its sins, is wrecked upon their coast, whether French, Spanish, English, Turkish, or Muscovite, great or small, it matters not, each man immediately claims his share, and they even divide the planks among them. When a stranger happens to go into their country, they de- a The fruit of the cactus. — a mode of strengthening the alli- b Kouft-jra^n; : Ilalice, compare ; ance of families, which was common one who has had the same godfather, in Italy in the middle ages. CHAP. VIII.] MANI. 3.37 clare him a compdrc, and invito him to eat with them. When he wishes to depart they detain him, undertake to conduct and accompany him, and then say, " Compare, reflect upon what we tell you, for it is for your good, take off your robe and your waistcoat, and your belt and your trowsers, lest some enemy should take them away from you ; for if our enemies should strip you, it would bring great disgrace and shame upon us ; and this too, my dear Comparuli, let us beg of you, leave your skull cap and shirt and take off your shoes too, they can be of no use to you. Now you are safe, you need not fear any one." When a man dies \jl natural death] they lament him as unslain, unbled, unjustified. These are the men who give a bad name to Mani, and render it hateful wherever they go. Let no one salute them, but fly from them as from a serpent. The Tzimovites only are worthy men, their manners and good customs shew it, — in appearance merchants, but secretly pirates. May the blast and the drought take them all." H 7T§i."r») tit h TQqfjLcfici, xaX») p^pa ptyaXyi, E%£* xscj xaTrtTocnoK ivu. Mxvppp\ya,\-t k ' Kai ntacaizavdi at? aviov, y.oira aro f^oQovn, Xupiov aWo (3gK?y.era,i xai %iyirai K.ovo-y.ovti, K^eTuaiaxa, Kiiptavtxa, Tlveyoc, Xaeia, Azvu.?\g, IIaA»&p£i'£a xat o K^rj^i/o; xa* vt Mtt a.y.'it '«xa ih ak\o, Ka» aXKo Mtt^v/.i Xsyovai, Kay.iova y.al Kajina, ¥Lov\ovy.i Xtyovv m^w, y.ai aAAo 7ra.Au/ Mi"va. H K'-jTa v croXi/7rt,^yo; y.ou hfxoia Tlafofjua, Truvgri te zat K.»x? la " l * a * a * ° Kovvoe ctWv) pla, Ka* Avravw, Kocru M-zoXagri, to A^t; xa) r) Kwxol'Aa, *H BaQja y.cci ra "AX>5xa, y.xl rovra tlvai ovXa' ¥La\ Mio-a.-Ma.iri htyovrat xai thai oV acacia. OgTvy.ia, (pguyy.o&VKa. vi irauiTti tov<; wTpccda,' Nigov otv fiyahti tto^ttete? a 'oKr\v tyii Mto-a-Mavj\v, Ka^Trov xoi/x/a poi/aya x«( §£poxcj9» x«ju.y£t* AuTa yvva'tKEq o-KifvovTai, yvvaix.^ ra Qspi^ovv, Tvvo,7ki$ t« osf*5iT»« y.u) aXovia avvuQpoi^ovv, VOL. I. Z 338 MANI. [NOTK to Tivct'iKs; fxi tx %££»a Ta,; fJ-ovxyxt; tx Xiyj.'.'Covv, TvvxTxtc fj.t tx Tzodio. txh; yvfj.vx tx xXov'^ovv' T« %?f*a Tatj tv. ttooix tx;; then hnpoa7:xa\J.ivx, "EXV IXiC yiXuVXi; OfJLOiX KXi yovT^oTTiTt^xauivx' & = vo?o, r> ivXo, y y.Xxci'i, S)v tivou fj.-r,Tt "ivx, Aev (3flc?y.o'jv ta-y.iov vx o-tx%vj h Qsovpmv tx y.xvfjAvx' Tr,'i wktx to y.tp6fj.vXov yvpttc^at km y.Xxls-i, 'AAsficiv Ta y.p&xp;x rai; y.xi fj.o;coXoyix AeV*, Ka* to Txyv fj.io-oyvfj.vxi; fj.s tx y.o^tvix (Byxtvovv, Ka* f»s TOWJ Axxxovs Tps^oLCt 71a t«i< >co7r£*ais iriryaivovk'* — «V |>J£av8oW3-*V V^TSPX, O-TX (TTTIlTiX TX avlX^OVV, Ka* jjt.spTiy.cv Tiiv opQxvm y.xi Turn yi\pxouv j xa* y.xfji.tji.lxv (po^xv xxpxfiv ta ^itzio-i), Asro Ta*s xixxpTixi; tov, cttov tqttov tov; va Tirtcrr), QcxvrQfyy.ov, Y.tzx'A-j)Xvxov, 'lyx.Xej-iy.ov, h xXXo, T0vfx.1x.0v M Mo3"/co/2*xov, fj.iy.pov i) xxi jxiyxXo, Kxdivxc to uoipxSi tov ew9ws va ttxpyi diXu, Ka* TabAais "°v fjLOifx^ovo-i, v.xv.Xov 0.£* va tuy*) o i'.vo;, tov x^xTovn Y.xv (plXov tov xxbodyyovv x.a* to> IvwQetoSj-Jj cf Kovuttxp;," Xiyovcnv, " »>/jt£*'s &£^0|t*=v to >caXov crof , Ka* toDto tow £7oD Asyoajv, WaA£ o*to f/.vx>ov aov' Ka* QyzXi Tr,v ^£^u.£X)5, yEXsy.*, x.a* Cwvxpi, Ka* to ^azi, fj.Tcopii nav£*s e%6«oj »a croD Ta rrxgri, Ka* »a c"; yciVoi^-* Ip^O^o*, va aov tx vxpyj aAAoj, Zvuian yS;H si? fl^u»S ^a* £'.T^077>;v /j.syxXr.v, Ka* towto, K.OVU.TXPOVXSU.OV, crutTTx va crow to irovjx.tv, Ka* £?V* x.a* 7roy.xfj.ic-o: » a^:;r>- xyx~ otfjiev, Kai Ta TaTowT^ia byxXs tx, t* XS ticl x - t *-H- V0Vi ' o~ivx } Na, T^ja Eis"a* a.yov^o;, fj.r,v crv.ia^fja* xavrva. CHAP. VIII.] MANI. 339 Av aTroQav* xa» xava;, occrxoTuron tov xXecti ' Aa-y.QTVTOv, apaTUTov, aoly.ioTov tov Ajv t»jv Kay.ovofAXTi^ovr, Kai otto? ito.yovv TOvofAx ai;T?j to paya^oiv' Mvcii ya^z}-\a^o\i y.avii<; oil/ 7r^'.vn >a Tot/f did 1 *?, AA^a. »ce tytvyy ait avrov; ucav a~o to £>io». Oi T^aobiTaK \*- w ot.-)(U. ilvai x«? k oi ai>0gi/7rot, Tovf pxprvpovv ra r,Qrj tow; xai d y.aAoi tov<; TpoVQi, Y.TO (pavego 7rpay/jt.u.T!VTccK; y.xi no y.gvtpo y.ovpcrxpoi. -. \ /. >< \ » \ \ \ / Miy.eovs ptyaAov; avi/xo; y.ut aw^^oi; va tov; 7ra.gr,. These are apart only of the maledictions of the poet against Kakavulia. Nor has he entirely confined his injurious testi- mony to this district. That of Milea falls also under his lash, particularly its chief place, Kastania, which having mentioned, he desires to fly from immediately. Arakhova he calls the renowned, and describes as hidden in a bewitched 3 valley, — and then adds : " From hence let us proceed, by the wolf-path, to the robbers of kids and goats, the walkers at night, and re- cord the name of the town of the kid-eating rogues, the mule- stealers, the goat-slayers, the thrice-apostate Milea, from which Garbelea is one quarter of an hour distant." Ao»tov y.ccl dice. tkv M»jA»«v va ttwjxsv x«./av£» %££»«" Ka\ evQI; otiro Tiv"l£i*av QsXfc.' va apx^rio-u, Kal crra); 8gav tovc., Kacravia T ovo^ot.T'n/;, Ka» ev&v; vet ttiyw a—' avTW vot (pvyu TtoxovTa tjjj' Na s^9w C7T»!» Aoct^ohctv tt,v 'zoAvi-axovo'u.Evriv, Eli "ivot o~TPiyAoAa.yya.Sov tv^axnai ywo-fAivriy Kal antiy-ii va i\bvfjtsv } xa\ dia ran; Avxo^aTaic;, Sto-j? xaT^xoy^oxXiTTxaj xai yvKTo—epi-zaTat;, Hotypa-^/UfjiBv t»jv yupotv tov<; tuv y.attixotyayaouii hlizapovuv, y.ovAapoxA£7iTuv, xai tuiv yido^ovotouv' AiiT e'ivxi TPiaaTr6s~TXTri xai Aeytrai MrjXia, 'ilc tva y.apio art \xa tlvai xai rj Tapy.T?t\ta. z 2 CHAPTER IX. MESSENIA. Kalauuita. — Phar^e. — Produce of the District of Kalamata. — Management of the silkworm. — From Kalamata to An- drussa. — Thuria, Calamte, Limn,e. — Andrussa. — Mavro- mati. — Messene. — Ancient Topography of the adjacent country. — Andania, Carnasium. — Rivers Pamisus, Aris, Balyra, Leucasia., Amphitus, Charadrus, Electra, Cceus. April 18. — This being the morning of Holy Thursday, by the Greek calendar, a young sub- deacon, two hours before day, knocks at all the doors, calling out, " Christians, come to church.'" To-day, oil is permitted, but to-morrow, Good Friday b , it is forbidden even to set a table for dinner. In the evening at r (\ a service begins, which lasts till eleven ; twelve masses are said, and as many portions of the Gospels read, de- scriptive of the different sufferings of Christ, previous to the Crucifixion, which they suppose to have taken place at midnight. Just as the service was beginning, there was a slight earth- quake — certainly the most appropriate of all ac- a X(>i(TTKZi/o), KOirix^Ti lie rnv sxx^yjo-iav. b n Ayicx. Hapoco-Kevy. CHAP. IX.] KALAMATA. 341 companiments. It is the first I have felt in Laconia, notwithstanding the observation of Strabo, zvarzurrog r\ Acc%ojvik?i. I inquired at Mistra in consequence of this remark of the geographer, and was told that earthquakes were not frequent there. Corn, at Kalamata, is measured by the vnvdxh which contains sixty okes of good wheat. A pinaki of kalambokki is now sold for thirteen piastres, the same price for which the Constan- tinople kilo of twenty-two okes of wheat is sold in the south of the Morea in general. April 19. — Mahmud Aga makes his entrance into the town ; he is a friend of the Pasha, and comes hither on a visit of observation, connect- ed with some efforts about to be made by the Pasha for the suppression of the robbers : he was lately in the household of Bekir Effendi, of Tripolitza, brother of Nuri Bey, of Corinth. I saw an old woman this evening searching for a strayed mule among the olive-trees, and mak- ing the sign of the cross down to the ground, every two or three steps, by way of assisting her in the search, but which, of course, retarded her not a little. April 20. — The ceremony of the Entomb- ment a occurs this morning, at two hours before 342 KALAMATA. [CHAP. IX. day ; the people come out of their houses in the dark, and scramble to light their candles at the priest's candle. There is then a procession, consisting chiefly of women, through the streets to the church. Kalamata is the only town in the Morea, inhabited by Turks, where the Greeks can perform this ceremony ; which ge- nerally takes place within the walls of the church or monastery. In the retired villages of the mountains, of course, it may be done openly. Kalamata, including its kalyvia, contains 400 families, of which only six are Turkish. The government is in the hands of the chief Greeks, and the voivoda is readily removed upon any complaint of theirs. The mukata of the Ka- zasi is generally bestowed upon some favourite at Constantinople for twelve or eighteen months, who undersells it to some other Turk for four or six months. The resident voivoda is the agent of the latter person, and a mere collector of the revenue. The kadi is, in like manner, the deputy of a principal at Constantinople, who has purchased the kadilik. An Albanian Bo- luk-bashi and forty men are maintained by the town, to keep the country free from robbers ; like every other part of the police, they are under the direction of the archons. The town is situated at about a mile from the sea, on the CHAP. IX.] KALAMATA., 343 left bank of a torrent, which emerges from a rocky gorge in Mount Taygetum, at the dist- ance of a mile to the north-eastward of a hill rising from the back of the town. This height is crowned with a ruined castle of the middle ages, and is naturally strengthened by a perpen- dicular cliff towards the torrent, which in win- ter often fills a bed 100 yards wide, but is now divided into three channels. There is a small kalyvia, or suburb, on the right bank of the river, the mills and gardens of which are sup- plied by an artificial diversion from the river. The advantageous situation of the castle-hili on the bank of a river, at a small distance from the mountains and near the head of this great gulf, is such as could not have been overlooked by the ancient Greeks ; upon this foundation alone, we might presume it to be the site of Phere, or Pherse, or Pharag, one of the maritime cities of the Messeniac gulf in the time of the Trojan war, and of such antiquity, as to have had the reputation of having been founded by a son of Hermes, whose descendants are noted in the earliest records of Greece 3 . Not long after the war of Troy, it was the residence of Ortilochus, when Telemachus, in search of his father, rested here at night on his way to Sparta from Pylus, a Pausan. Messen. c. 30— 488. O. 18(1 Homer. II. E. 542— Ocl. r. 344 KALAMATA. [CHAP. IX. and again on his return. It would seem from the poet, that Phere was about midway between Pylus and Sparta ; and that Telemachus tra- velled about equal distances on the two days, which accords exactly with the position of Ka- lamata relatively to Navarin and Sparta. Stra- bo a describes Pharae as situated at five stades from the sea, and Pausanias b at six, which is less than the actual distance. This may either be explained by the town having been larger in those times than it is now, or by the earth de- posited at the mouth of the wide and rapid tor- rent having, as we so often see exemplified in Greece, encroached upon the sea; in which manner the space may have been widened from five stades to six, between the time of Strabo and that of Pausanias, and may have been farther augmented to eight, between the age of the Antonines and the present time. Pau- sanias omits to notice the river, but Strabo informs us that it was called Nedon, and his de- scription of the port of Pharae, as being an an- chorage fit only for the summer , is exactly con- formable to present practice. In the time of Pausanias there were at Pharae temples of JEs- culapius, of Fortune, and of the deified natives Nicomachus and Gorgasus, who received offer- a Strabo, p. 3(51. c btpccpo; flsj»»of. b Pausan. Messen. c. 31. CHAP. IX.] KALAMATA. 345 ings for the cure of diseases, like their father Machaon, and their grandfather iEsculapius. Not far from the city there was a grove of Apollo Carneius, and a temple with a fountain in it. Strabo speaks of a temple of Minerva Nedusia, which, not being noticed by Pausanias, was perhaps no longer in existence. He also mentions Charadra, Nedon, Pceeessa, Echeiae, and Tragium, as places in this part of the country \ Nedon we may suppose to have been towards the sources of the river Neda ; and some of the other places named by the geo- grapher may also have been in the mountains which separate the plain of Kalamata from that of Mistra. In the same direction there was a place called Thalamse, on the ordinary route from Sparta into Messenia b , and different, therefore, from the Thalamce, which was in Exo- Mani. It is not surprising to find more than one place of this name, the word having been synonymous with the temple of the Dioscuri c ; which deities, having been peculiar . favourites with the Lacedaemonians, had, undoubtedly, temples in every part of the Laconic territory. a Strabo, p. 360. accented with the grave on b Polyb. 1. 16. c. 16. the last syllable, — ©aXajua*. c to tuv Aioo-y.ovguv U.^ov. — Eustath. in Odyss. E. Tom. When Thalamic had this III. p. 232. ed. Basil.— Try- meaning, it was oxytonous, or phon in Amnion, Lexic. 34:6 KALAMATA. [CHAP. IX. I could not succeed in finding any vestiges of Hellenic antiquity at Kalamata. There seems to have been but little left in the time of Pau- sanias, and the circumstance of the site having always been occupied and well inhabited, will account for that little having disappeared. Kalamata is not only the port of external commerce for the districts of Andrussa, Lon- dari, and even Mistra, when the roads are safe, but it is also the chief place for the interchange of commodities between the interior of the Mo- rea and the southern coast, A fair is held every Sunday, at which maize, wheat, barley, cheese, butter, skins, &c. are brought for sale from the districts of Karitena, Londari, Arkadhia, An- drussa, Tripolitza, and Mistra; or are exchanged for the manufactured commodities of other parts of Turkey or of Europe. Kalamata is a great market also for cattle and live stock of all kinds, as well as for the productions of the plains of jMessenia and of the western parts of Mani, such as oil, figs, raw cotton, tanned leather, &c. The vilayeti contains twenty-one villages, one of which, Ianitza a , lies between Kalamata and the frontier of Mani ; all the others are in the plain of the Pamisus, or on the side of the mountain which extends northward from Kala- mata until it unites with the Makryplaghi. The CHAP. IX.] KALAMATA. 347 productions of the district arc oil, silk, figs, wheat, maize, cotton, kidney-beans a , wine, honey, and, in the mountains, some sheep. The manufactures of Katamata are, — 1. Handker- chiefs of silk, much esteemed in every part of the Levant. 2. A kind of silk gauze, chiefly used for musquito curtains at Constantinople, in Greece, and in the western part of Asia Minor. The gauze sells here at thirteen paras the yard : 1500 okes of raw silk are consumed yearly in the two articles, the value of which is increased sixty times by the manufacture. 3. Tanned leather for boots and slippers. The hides are tanned with vallonea, and coloured black, red, and yellow : five months' soaking in the vallonea is a sufficient tanning, after some preparatory operations. Leaves of skhinos b are mixed with the vallonea in about equal quantities. The colouring is a secret. The principal exports from the Kazasi are, 1. Raw silk ; of which the average is 7000 okes, valued at 180,000 piastres. There are three qualities selling at present, twenty-five, twenty- eight, and thirty piastres the oke. It is chiefly carried to Turin, Smyrna, Khio, Constantinople, Skodra, andJoannina; at the two latter places it is made into lace for Albanian dresses. 2. Figsj which are grown chiefly in the districts of An- a ^wo-o^iK. b Lcntisk. 348 KALAMATA. [CHAP. IX. drussa and Nisi : of these nearly two millions of tzapeles a are annually exported. The tzapela is a little wicker pocket, containing two litres b . Half the produce is sent to Trieste, the remain- der to Greece and Albania, with the exception of a ship load to Malta; the figs are inferior only to those of Smyrna. 3. Oil : this is produced only in the immediate vicinity of Kalamata. In a good year the quantity exported is 6000 barrels, and the prime cost from thirty to thir- ty-eight piastres the barrel ; this year it is forty to forty-eight. It is chiefly consumed in Greece : at Joannina the price of a barrel of oil, to a consumer, is about eighty-four piastres. Before the French revolution, Kalamata was chiefly frequented by ships of that nation, which carried the grain, morocco leather, silk, and cotton of Messenia to Marseilles. At present the port is visited by Sclavonians, Albanians, and islanders of Greece. The road of Kala- mata is fit only for the summer months. After September, ships retire for safety to Armyro, but Kitries is the best harbour in the gulf, as Cape Kurtissa is a protection from the south- erly gales, and leaves no danger but from the north and north-west. A large fleet might an- chor at Kitries, and Messenia would supply an army better than any part of the peninsula. a T^ecTriXctn;. h 7UTfa»,-> pounds. CHAP. IX.] KALAMATA. 349 Almost every house in Kalamata is provided with a chamber for rearing silk-worms. The eggs ■ are sold from two to five piastres the measure of eight drams, the price varying ac- cording to the crop of the preceding year : this year the price was five piastres. The eggs are wrapped in a cloth, and the worms hatched at the end of April or beginning of May b ; young mulberry leaves are then placed upon them ; the mamudhia c , or worms, mount upon the leaves, and are placed in round shallow baskets d . In this state the mamudhi e is called miga f ; small leaves are given to it once a day, or once in two days : the leaves increasing in size as the worm increases. At the end of fifteen days it sleeps two days, sheds its skin and then becomes a protokuli s ; in which state it eats twelve days, having fresh leaves in the morning of each day. After sleeping again two days, and changing its skin, the worm is called dhefteraki h . It has now fresh leaves twice a-day, and is removed out of the basket ' into the kalamoti k : this is nothing more than a frame of reeds tied to- gether, and is usually ten, twelve, or fourteen feet long, and five or six broad. The kalamotes are placed one above the other at intervals of a o <77iopo<;. b Old Style. f /xlycc. S nvwToxofAi. 350 KALAMATA. fcHAP. IX. eight or ten inches, forming as many stories as the height of the room will permit. In Asia Minor the worms are commonly kept in huts built for the purpose in the mulberry grounds ; here they are in the private houses. The dhef- teraki eats tor ten days, sleeps two, sheds his skin again, and then becomes a tritaki 2 : he has now fresh leaves morning, noon, and evening, and, after eating for eight days, sleeps three, and once more sheds his skin. In the last and largest state the worms are called megales, or great b ; they have leaves three times a-day, cease eating at the end of eight days, and then begin to climb upwards. The kladhia c , or branches upon which they are to spin, are then placed upon the kala- motes, and the worms form the kukulia d ; some- times two, three, or four spin together, and make a large kukuli : at the end of fifteen days the kukulia are placed in the sun, which is now at the solstice, and the chrysalis is killed by the heat ; soon afterwards the nefteres e , or moths, eat their way out of those kukulia that have been reserved to furnish eggs. The growth of the animal, the quantity he eats, and consequently the frequency of the change of leaves, depend on the weather ; he advances more rapidly if it is hot, and less so * TMTUti. r ttX aHtt t. KOixov?ua. CHAP. IX. j TO AN'DRL'SSA. 351 if it is cold and rainy. The worms are so deli- cate that thunder, or even the report of a pistol, will sometimes kill them. The baskets and ka- lamotes are cleaned by merely throwing in fresh leaves, which, as soon as the worms have mounted upon them, are removed to a fresh basket, or kalamoti. This operation is repeated after every change of skin. The moths live three days. The kladhia are usually made of lentisk. April 20, Easter Sunday, by the Greeks called Lambri a . It is a general custom, when two acquaintances meet for the first time to-day for one to say, " Christ hath risen ! ,,b to which the other replies, " truly He hath risen! " c The morning is occupied in visiting and drinking coffee. At about 11 dinner takes place, after which it is not unusual to sing the words of sa- lutation just mentioned, or something equally applicable to the day. April 22. — At -2 p.m. I leave Kalamata for Andrussa. Nearly half an hour is lost in unload- ing and reloading, in the course of the way through the olive grounds, which he along the heights, and broken ground at the foot of the mountain. At 3.5, on the descent into the plain, the village of Asprokhoma d is on the left, and farther, in the same direction, Kalami 6 . 3 A~ c - rrr. 352 TO ANDRUSSA. [CHAP. IX. The plain and the lower parts of the mountain are covered with plantations of the vine, fig, and mulberry, and present as rich a cultivation as .can well be imagined. This is a part of the re- gion which, from its great fertility, was anciently called Macaria a , and which the dramatic poet describes as abounding in fruits and flocks, re- freshed with innumerable streams, and neither incommoded with heat in summer, nor with cold in winter 5 . Although in some parts towards the sea a want of drainage may render the air less healthy now than it was anciently, and though a native of the north of Europe would probably differ in opinion from an Athenian as to the summer heat, it cannot be doubted that, generally speaking, the climate is salubrious as well as delightful ; and it is certain that the Messenian valley is one of the most favoured districts, if not the most fertile, in the Pelopon- nesus. But to the ancient inhabitants this fer- tility was a fatal gift of nature, for by exciting the cupidity of the natives of the poorer soil of La- a Strabo, p. 361. Aptrr,v \youariS fxB^oi/ , >) Xoyu ct)0e/ocg i\g rccv xgccvav, " in a di- rect line to the fountain. " In the first decree there is mention also of vtivg xotvov, the common water. A little nearer to the Stadium I find a marble, bearing a sculpture in relief. It represents the hunting of a lion : the middle figure is the lion treading with one paw on a dog, and looking behind him at a horseman at full gallop, who holds the reins in the left hand, while the right is employed in supporting his chlamys which flies loose behind him; his leg is almost horizon- tal, the knee over the horse's shoulder. Before the lion is a man on foot with a double hatchet in his right hand, which is turned round over the same shoulder in such a manner as to be behind the head which hides the arm. The po- sition is accurately expressive of the intention of striking the lion while it turns its head towards the horseman. The chlamys of the man on foot is entirely separate from his body, and is held in the left hand, flying in the wind : at his feet is a dog about to seize the lion. The horseman has a loose tunic reaching to his knees and girt round the waist. The heads of both men and animals have been purposely destroyed. The marble is a circular segment, of which the arc 380 MESSENE. [CHAP. IX. is three feet eight inches, and the chord three feet six inches and a half. It seems to have been part of a small circular monument, and the sculptures probably belonged to the frize. An- other piece of the same monument lies half buried near the former j on the end which is above ground is the figure of a man stepping forward as if stabbing his antagonist with a sword. A little way beyond this is the Stadium, on one side of which I find the fragment of an in- scribed stone, with names which have evidently been engraved at different periods, and are pro- bably those of victors in the Stadium. This stone, I am informed by my guides, was entire two years ago, when an English traveller having offered to pay for its conveyance to Nisi, some Kleftes, who came here shortly afterwards, broke the stone in pieces, in the persuasion that it con- tained something valuable. It was a plain qua- drangular stele of white Laconian marble, inscrib- ed on all the four sides, and is now so ruined, that I did not attempt to copy the inscription, espe- cially as I could find no appearance of anything but names. Of the Stadium there are remains of the upper or circular end, and more than half of one of the sides. At the lower end are the ruins of a small Doric temple : columns, plain metopes, architraves, and pieces of the cell, are lying together in a heap. The dia- CHAP. IX.] MESSENE. 381 meter of the upper end of the columns is one foot, nine inches ; the flutings, twenty ; the breadth of the metope, one foot, one inch and a half ; the breadth of the triglyph, one foot. The temple stood on an artificial terrace, of which the supporting wall remains ; from behind this wall issues a spring of fine water. The Stadium was surrounded by a colonnade, which was double at the upper end : here the lower parts of the columns are in their original places ; there were about twenty in each row, one foot, ten inches in diameter, with Doric flutings. Part of the colonnade, on the right side of the Stadium, is likewise in its place, and on the left side is the foundation of a public edifice, where are many pieces of columns of the same description as the colonnade round the Stadium. Perhaps this was the Hierothy- sium. The stone seats of the Stadium did not extend its whole length, but about two-thirds only : at the circular end, they are most per- fect. The rivulet of Mavromati runs obliquely through the length of the Stadium. About midway between the Stadium and Mavromati, are the remains of a small theatre, about sixty feet in diameter, below which are foundations, which are possibly those of the Gymnasium. There are also the remains of two temples be- tween the theatre and Mavromati ; in this space, 382 MESSENE. [CHAP. IX. the ground rising rapidly, the slope is divided into terraces, of which the supporting walls still remain ; one of these was wrought in a manner, of which I have not met ; 1 ■ with any other example, the ex- ' > terior of each course being finish- g niiisii- ed in a curve thus : -J 1 At the southern extremity of the city, near the place where the rivulet of Mavromati passes through the walls, there are some remains of another temple. Nothing can be more agreeable and retired, more singular and striking, than the whole scene of these interesting remains. By the high mountains Ithome and Evan which rise from the northern and eastern sides of the site, the city was entirely concealed from the Messenian plain, with the exception only of the summit of Ithome. It was equally hidden from all distant view in the opposite directions, by the parallel ridge called Kondovuni ; it was open only la- terally to the north-west and south-east. In the latter direction the site commands a view of a part of the gulf; and it is well ventilated by the wind, which draws through the opening, whether it happens to be a maestrale, or an im- bat from the gulf. The space inclosed within the city walls con- sists of corn-fields and pasture, amidst woods of CHAP. IX.] MESSENE. 383 wild olive, caroub, and oak, mixed with a great variety of shrubs. There is a fine turf, and the cattle which are fed here supply, in the pre- sent season, excellent fresh butter and new cheese. This evening we have a strong gale from the eastward. The peculiar situation of the place, creating a salubrious ventilation in the summer, exposes it to the extreme fury of the winter storms. The spahi's pyrgo, not being quite so firmly constructed as the towers, compared by Pausanias to the bulwarks of Ba- bylon and Rhodes, trembles to its foundations before the blast, which rushes through the open- ing of Andrussa, or which descends at intervals with redoubled force between Ithome and Evan. In the village of Mavromati I find an inscrip- tion in which occurs the name of ^Ethidas, who must I think be the same person Pausanias speaks of, for the monument was a dedication to Lucius Verus, and was consequently erected not long before the time when Pausanias tra- velled ; it accords, therefore, with his remark, that iEthidas was a man nearly of his own age a . As the inscription refers moreover to an expense incurred by iEthidas, it accords in this particular also with the observation of Pau- a The exact meaning of which some of the commen- Pausanias is uncertain. The tators propose to add w be- words of the text are, " Ai'9/$ay tween the third and fourth IfjLuvrov k£io£vti%ov ovtcc," to words ; others, ov TroXv ; 384 ITHOME. [CHAP. IX. sanias, as to the wealth for which iEthidas was distinguished. The inscribed stone is a plain quadrangular pedestal a of white marble, which probably supported a statue of Lucius Verus. The inscription is in the following terms, " The Hellenes grateful to the gods, and praying for blessings on the Imperial House, (have erected,) Lucius iElius Verus Caesar, Tiberius Claudius iEthidas Caelianus, High-priest and Helladarch of the community of the Achaeans for life, having recommended it, and defrayed the expense." There is no appearance of the Doric dialect in this inscription, which may be accounted for by its being a dedication of the Greeks in gene- ral, and not of the Messenians, though erected in their city, at the expense of its citizen JEthidas. April 24. — Mount Ithome is connected with Mount Evan by a sharp ridge about half a mile in length, which unites them at about the mid- dle of their height. The slope of this ridge to- wards the plain is blended with that of the two mountains : but on the opposite side, or to- wards the city, there is a vale or hollow between them. The southern walls of Messene extended from the termination of the ridge of Evan which is above Simiza, along the hollow to the con- necting ridge just described. Upon the crest of CHAP. IX.] ITHOME. 385 the latter there are some remains of a small in- closed work which defended the pass, and was well placed for a look-out upon an enemy ap- proaching from the plain, or along the flanks of either mountain. Below this point, on the north- eastern slope of Evan, stands the monastery of Vurkano a , a large building having a church with several other structures attached to it, and a garden of fruit-trees mixed with cypresses : the situation is very agreeable, and commands a noble view of the gulf and plain ; but the late proceedings of Capt. George and his men, who often came to Vurkano, followed by the perse- cution of the Turkish authorities, who suspect- ed, or pretended to suspect the monks of favour- ing the robbers, have driven them away, as well from the convent itself, as from its metokhia, one of which stands on the summit of Ithome, the other at the foot of Evan. The latter is that which I passed on the road from Andrussa. Between the ancient redoubt on the connect- ing ridge and the adjacent extremity of Ithome, I remark the foundations of one of the city gates placed exactly in the pass. A little below it, at the foot of the cliffs of Ithome, under a frag- ment of the wall, there is a fine source of water on the side of a road which leads down the north-eastern slope of Ithome to the bridge of a Bovp>tavo?. VOL. I. C C 386 ITHOME. [chap. IX. Mavrozumeno. As Pausanias describes the Clepsydra on the ascent to Ithome a , it might be suspected that this was the fountain anciently so called ; but it is without the walls, nor can it be conceived that this position could ever have been on the ordinary route from the centre of the city to the Acropolis. From the fountain I ascend, on foot, the steep acclivity of Ithome, and arrive on the summit at its south-eastern extremity : at the opposite end stand a church and the metokhi already mentioned. The wall of the citadel is in most parts of the same kind of masonry as that of the town ; but there are some others which seem sufficiently ancient to have belonged to the elder Ithome. Probably Epami- nondas found the old fortress quite dilapidated, and renewed it. Indeed it is consonant with the character of the Spartans, who despised fortifica- tions, to suppose that they never maintained a permanent garrison in Ithome, and that they dis- mantled the fortress. On the northern and east- ern sides, the wall runs along the edge of the per- pendicular cliffs, from which the inclosed space slopes rapidly, in the opposite direction, towards the city, so that the wall of the southern and western side is built on the declivity of the moun- tain. When I arrive on the summit of the moun- CHAI\ IX.] ITHOME, 387 tain the whole country is involved in mist and rain, and clouds are floating around and below me ; but the atmosphere soon clears, and affords one of the finest prospects in Greece. To the north-west, the sea-coast between the rivers Cy- parisseeis and Neda is seen through the opening between the mountain of Arkadhia and the ex- tremity of the range of Lycceum. Along the northern boundary of the horizon extends the Lyccean range, of which the highest summit in view is now called Tetrazi. The Lycceum unites to the east with the mountain now named Ma- kryplai, and the latter with the range of Tayge- tum, which closes the prospect as far as the Messenian Gulf. The new objects of topo- graphy, which the elevation enables me to dis- tinguish within the horizontal circuit, are a plain at the foot of the Lyccean range, which is separated by hills of no great height from the Pass of Kokhla. Towards the head of this plain are situated the villages of Sulima and Klisura ; and it is separated by some other hills, among which is the village of Buga a , from the upper part of the great Messenian plain ; it gives rise to the principal branch of the Mavrozumeno, called Va- siliko. At the north-eastern angle of the upper Messenian plain rises a height, separated from the range of Makryplai by the gorge of a river, which a Mirwyoo. c c 2 388 MESSENIA. [CHAP. IX. enters the plain at a ruined mosque below the small village of Fyla or Filia, which I passed March 4, at 44 p.m. On the summit of this ad- vanced height there are some remains of Hellenic walls, now called Ellinikokastro, undoubtedly the ancient Andania, which, though a ruin in the time of Pausanias, was still a small city in the year 191 b.c, when it is well described by Livy a as lying between Megalopolis and Messene. From hence begins the Makryplai, the con- tinuation of which extends to Kalamata, and ends in a point two or three miles on this side of it ; I perceive the castle of Kalamata just clear of the point. That town appears to stand in a kind of bay, between the projection just mentioned and the hill of Selitza : at the foot of the Makryplai, southward of Andania, are seen, in succession, the south-eastern part of the upper Messenian plain ; the village Skala, on a ridge separating that plain from the lower, which extends to the sea ; the fountain of Aio Floro with its derveni and plane tree ; the sources and hamlet of Pidhima, Paleokastro, or Thuria, and the villages at the foot of the mountain a Liv. 1. 36. c. 31 . Anda- Roman, who had come from nia was the place of meeting Eubcea for the purpose, order- between T.Q. Flamininus and ed Diophanes to dismiss his Diophanes, commander of the army, and quickly settled the Achaian forces acting against disputes of the Peloponne- Messene, when the celebrated sians. CHAP. IX. J MESSENIA. 389 which I passed in coming from Kalamata ; Nisi, and the part of the plain around that town, is hidden by Mount Evan. To the right of that mountain is seen the mouth of the river Dhi- potamo, or Pamisus, then the western coast of the gulf as far as Koroni, then Mount Lykod- hemo,the peaked hill called Pilar! or Tavolaki, on the northern side of which passes the road from Andrussa to Navarin, then another hill clothed with oaks, standing in an elevated plain between the former and Gargaliano, and, lastly, the range of Kondovuni, over the right hand end of which is the mountain of Arkadhia and the sea, as already described. This comprehensive view of Messenia en- ables me to ascertain all the principal features of its ancient geography ; at least of its eastern and most interesting part. Of the rivers, the most celebrated was the Pamisus, which Strabo de- scribes as the largest stream in the Pelopon- nesus, but as being only 100 stades in length a . It might be supposed that this description would be sufficient to identify the Pamisus, on the most cursory view of the places ; but this is not exactly the case. I have already remarked, that in the line in which Pausanias describes the fountains of the Pamisus to have been situated, a Strabo, p. 361 . 390 MESSENIA. [CHAP. IX. namely, in the road from Thuria towards Arca- dia, there are two places, at which a copious stream issues from the foot of the mountain, and flows through the lower Messenian plain, and that these two rivers do not unite until within a small distance from the sea. I find, however, upon inquiry, that besides the sources at Aio Floro, there are others at the foot of the ridge of Skala, and that from all these the water collected is much greater than from the springs at Pidhima. Add to which, that the course of the Pidhima is too short, and the distance of its sources from Messene too great, for the 100 stades of Strabo, and the forty stades of Pausa- nias respectively ; whereas both these distances are correct when applied to the course of the river which rises to the southward of Skala. The latter, therefore, is the Pamisus, and the Pid- hima, as I have already shewn reason to believe, the Arts. The rivers and the places in the north-east- ern part of Messenia are thus noticed by Pau- sanias. "After having descended thirty stades from the Megalopolitan gate of Messene, oc- curs the river Balyra a , so called because Tha- myris threw his lyre into it when he was deprived of sight. The Leucasia and Amphi- a to fiv^a. t^? BocXv^oci;. CHAP. IX.] MESSENIA. 391 tus unite their waters and join the Balyra a . Beyond these is the Stenycleric plain, so named, it is said, from the hero Stenyclerus. On the opposite side of the plain b , is the place an- ciently called CEchalia, but which is now a grove consisting chiefly of cypresses, and named Carnasium . It contains statues of Apollo Carneius, of Hermes carrying a ram, and of the Pure Virgin, a denomination of the daughter of Ceres 5 there is a spring of water near this statue. As to the sacred rites here performed, and which I consider inferior in holiness only to those of Eleusis, they must be kept secret by me, like every thing else relating to the great goddesses — but that a brazen vase was found here by the Argive commander d , and that the bones of Eurytus, son of Melaneus, are here preserved, my dream has not forbidden me to divulge. The river Charadrus flows by Carna- sium. On proceeding eight stades to the left of Carnasium, are the ruins of Andania. On the road from thence to Cyparissiee is the place called Polichne, and (then) the rivers Electra and Cceus. Beyond the Electra occur the fountain Achaia and the ruins of Dorium, where, accord- a avp,Qd}\\ovaiv e? to ccvro t» c Kagvcunov cc\cro$. ptupccTa,. — Pausan. Messen. c. d Epiteles. — Vide Pausan. 33. Messen. c. 26. " TC.V TTtSloU U7TCiVTUl(>l>. 392 MESSENE. [CHAP. IX. ing to Homer, Thamyris was stricken with blindness for boasting that he could surpass the Muses themselves in singing." a The accompanying map of Messenia will be the best commentary upon this passage of Pau- sanias, and leaves me scarcely any observation to add to what my itinerary contains in illus- tration of it. Pausanias very naturally ends his description of the road from Andania to Cypa- rissiae at the Cceus, (supposing it to have been the river of the Derveni of Kokhla, which I followed March 4th,) as from the extremity of its vale the waters begin to flow towards the gulf of Cyparissiee : there consequently were in all probability the boundaries of the two dis- tricts. It takes me twenty-three minutes to descend from Ithome to Mavromati. Considerably above the level of that village, are seen two walls forming a right angle, apparently the terrace of some building. In the way from thence to Ma- vromati, five minutes short of the village, I ob- serve also the remains of a wall, which appears to have crossed the slope of the mountain from one side to the other, forming an outer rampart of the Acropolis towards the city, a mode of for- tifying which was not uncommon in the cities of Greece. The inclosure between this wall a Horn. II. B. v. 599. CHAP. IX.] MESSENE. 393 and the Acropolis appears to have been the situ- ation occupied by Demetrius the brother of Perseus, and his Macedonians, in their attempt to take Messene a . Demetrius had been sent to the Peloponnesus by his father Philip with a few ships, to raise some money by plunder. Having landed on the coast of the Argeia, he made a rapid march by the shortest road into Messenia, and approached Ithome in the night. Being well acquainted with the locality, he scaled the wall in the part which lay between Ithome and the city b . The Messenii advanced upon him from the city, while the garrison of the Acropolis assailed him from above '. The contest was for some time obstinate, but the Demetrians had been fatigued by their previous marches, and so vigorous was the attack of the Messenians, under the elder iEthidas, and even that of the women, who threw down stones and tiles upon them, that they were compelled at length to a disorderly flight. Many precipi- tated themselves over the walls from the steepest part of Ithome ; some escaped by throwing away their armour. There is one passage, and one only, in the description of Messene by Pausanias, which I a Pausan. Messen. C. 29. t»j? te vroXeug fAircc^v fo v.ou an- 32. ^ctq T>JC 'i9^>j<. b vitizfids to Tsi'^o? x«G' o c e| vife^s^iuv. 394 MESSENE. [CHAP. IX. cannot reconcile with actual appearances. He says, if I have rightly understood his words, that the circuit of the city comprehended a part of Mount Evan towards the Pamisus a , whereas the existing walls strongly testify that no part of Evan was included in the city, nor even any part of Ithome towards the Pamisus. May it have been, that before the time of Pausanias the Messenians had partly abandoned the old inclo- sure, and built houses on the slope of Mount Evan ? Or, is there not rather some corruption in the author's text ? a ir^'i^iTO^ ov t>j 'lQuipy yJa- Tir^u^iva. inro ?vg Eva*. — von, u.wgI kou \ir) tui/ nxfAiaov t« Pausan. Messen. c. 31. CHAPTER X. MESSENIA. From Mavromati toNavarin. — Neokastro. — Sphacteria. — Defeat of the Lacedaemonians in that island. — Old Navarin. — Coryphasium. — Neleian Pylus. — To Mothoni. — Methone. — To Koroni. — Adjustment of the ancient sites of Corone, Colonides, and Asine. — From Koroni by- sea to Kalamata. April 24, continued. — At 2.25 I depart from Mavromati, and quit with regret its fine ruins, which are equally interesting as specimens of Grecian art at a time when it was in the most perfect state, and as a historical monument of the humiliation of the pride of Sparta, from which she never recovered. At 2.32 pass to the left of Simiza ; — halt eight minutes at the metokhi of Vurkano. — At 3.10 leave Andrussa three quarters of a mile on the left, and pass over the undulated country at the back of it. At 4.10 cross a river, flowing from Mount Kon- dovuni, from near the monastery and village of Andromonastero a . At 4.35 pass over another stream from near Klima, another village on a 'Avrpojj.oi/ci<7T^ov. 396 TO NAVARIN. [CHAP. X. Kondovuni : it winds, where we cross it, through a little vale shaded with plane trees and shrubs, among which nightingales are singing in great numbers. The road continues to traverse the same kind of undulated country, intersected with low woody eminences of an excellent soil, but little cultivated. These heights are the roots of Mount Kondovuni, and are separated from each other by narrow valleys watered by small streams. At 5.35 we cross a third river by a bridge, which is in the road from Andrussa to Petalidhi. Both the bridge and the river are now usually known by the name of Djidjori 3 , which is that of the principal village on its banks. In ten minutes from thence arrive at the little village of Loghi b , and lodge in the pyrgo of the Turk, who farms the dhekatia un- der the voivoda of Andrussa, and who is now at that town. Seeing our party approach, the villagers locked up the pyrgo and fled, and it was some time before they could be persuaded to return and let us in. April 25. — At 6| I leave Loghi, and at 7 en- ter a narrow vale, in which runs the river Velika, coming from Kondovuni, and flowing into the sea a little to the southward of Petalidhi. The Velika inundated the valley a year or two ago, and carried away flocks and trees. In the bed a T^iT^ofi. b Aoyv. CHAP. X.] TO NAVARIN. 397 of the river was afterwards found a great ser- pent, which was supposed to have been the cause of the inundation. At the bridge of the Velika I turn to the left, after having crossed the river, and pass through the woods to the re- mains of a castle of the middle ages, on a pe- ninsula formed by the windings of the river and surrounded with cliffs. Return to the bridge, having lost half an hour, and proceed over a hilly, woody, and ill-cultivated tract : at 8.10 Zaimoglu is half a mile on the right and Kurt- aga three miles distant on the side of Kondo- vuni. At 8.20 cross a stream, flowing to the left, and soon after enter a forest of oaks which extends over all the adjacent part of the moun- tain on the right, and covers a great part of the range of Kondovuni, as far as the forest of Kokhla on the road from Arkadhia to Messene. On the right is a hill which forms the south- western extremity of Kondovuni, sloping into the elevated plain which extends from Paleo Avarino to Arkadhia. This height, which I mentioned as having seen from Itliome to the right of Mount Tavolaki, is entirely covered with oaks, except near the village of Kondozoni, which stands upon it. The oaks which we pass, like those of the forest of Kokhla, are short and crooked : I see no velanidhies among them. We have now crossed the highest of the ridges of the 398 NAVARIN. [CHAP. X. undulated country which connects Kondovuni with Lykodhemo, and which separates the course of the waters flowing to the Messenian Gulf, from those tending towards the western coast. We descend, at 9.18? into an elevated vale at the foot of Lykodhemo, on its northern side. Tjaban is a quarter of a mile on the left, and two miles in the same direction, on the side of the mountain, Kambasi ; the country on the right is covered with oaks. At 9-48 we pass Sulinari, situated to the left in a retired hollow at the foot of Mount Lykodhemo. The three last-mentioned villages belong to the district of Mothoni. The valley terminates at the peaked hill, called Tavolaki, which we leave on the left : on the right is the hill of Kondozoni. The harbour and island of Navarin, the ruined castle of Paleo Avarino, and a corner of the fortress of Neokastro, now become visible, and the road enters the elevated level which extends to Gargaliano, and from thence along the foot of a lofty mountain parallel to the shore, to Fi- liatra and Arkadhia. At 10.15 we enter upon this plain, which is well cultivated with corn ; to the left are barren hills, which, branching from Lykodhemo, extend to Mothoni. At 10.30 arrive at the head of the aqueduct of Neokas- tro. The sources issue at a sandy spot inclosed and covered by a circular building, in which CHAP. X.] NAVARIN. 399 originates a stone pipe. Soon afterwards the road crosses an uncultivated tract, and, at 11.30, descends into a valley terminating in the centre of the port of Navarin, and watered by a stream called Pesili. At 11.20 I arrive, by a bad paved causeway, at the skala of Neokastro, and lodge in the house of Kyr Ghiorghio Ikonomopulo 3 , who has all the trade of Neokastro in his hands, and is agent for some of the European nations. His house and magazines, which stand on the water side three or four hundred yards below the fort, very na- turally excite the cupidity of the poor Turks of the town, who are starving by the effects of their pride and idleness. He tells me that their de- mands upon him are so frequent, that he finds himself under the necessity of abandoning Na- varin to settle in some place, where, not being the only Greek of property, he may be less ex- posed to extortion. April 26. — Edris Bey the commandant, whom I visit to-day in the fortress, is a young Stam- buli, or Constantinopolitan, who, having spent the greater part of the property left him by his father, one of the chief kapidjis of the Sultan, was glad to sacrifice the remainder in obtaining this government, though, with all his efforts, its profits are so small, that he is often under the a OlyiovcuOTrovtoi;. 400 NAVARIN. [CHAP. X. necessity of having recourse to Kyr Ghiorghio. There are about 300 Turkish families in the fortress, most of them in a wretched state of poverty. The castle stands on a cape, project- ing towards the southern end of Sphacteria, off which there is a rock, called, from the tomb of a Turkish saint upon it, Delikli-baba. Between this rock and the fortress is the entrance into the bay of Navarin, a noble basin, with a depth of water from twelve to twenty passi. It is said that there is occasionally some danger from the south and south-west, notwithstanding the nar- rowness of the entrance, which is not more than three fourths of a mile. Ships generally anchor at about a third of a mile from the skala, where they are sheltered by the point of the castle; or behind the island of Marathonisi % which lies a little northward of the centre of the harbour. The fortress consists of a low wall without any ditch, flanked by small bastions. On the side towards the sea, where it ought to be strongest, it has received only a miserable patching since it was battered by the Russians from the island, in the year 1770. The district of Neokastro contains only twenty villages, none of which are large, except Vervitza, and this is not situated in the negiftajgu, or vicinity, but in Arcadia, not far from the a Fennel island. CHAP. X.] SPHACTERIA. 401 temple of Phigaleia. The agricultural produc- tions are of the usual kind, the only exports are six or seven hundred barrels of oil in good years, some vermilion 3 , tobacco, and goat-skins. April 27. I employed the whole of this day in examining the island of Navarin, anciently called Sphacteria, orSphagia b , making a tour of it in a boat, and then walking over it on foot ; I afterwards visited the peninsula of Paleo Ava- rino ; and made a plan of the whole scene, with a view to illustrate the description by Thucy- dides c of the celebrated contest between the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, which occurred on this spot in the seventh year of the Pelopon- nesian war. An extract from the narrative of the historian will be the best accompaniment to the plan. It was in the early part of the summer, when the Lacedaemonians were making their yearly invasion of Attica by land, and the Athenian fleet was at Pylus on its route to Sicily, that the further operations of both the belligerents were for some time interrupted by an enterprise of De- mosthenes, one of the commanders of the Athe- nian fleet, who, foreseeing that the advantages which had been derived from placing Athenians a irgivoxoxM. AaKectctifiQiuoi, &C. Strabo, p. b i) w^oxEi^e'vii ttXyictIoii tow 359. IlvXot; "Ecpuyia, mcro<;, * 565, " ships/' Thucy- mention vessels that were not dides always means triremes; triremes, he specifies them, whenever he has occasion to CHAP. X.] SPHACTERTA. 403 advertised of his danger. The Lacedaemonians, after having occupied Sphacteria with 420 hop- litae, and their attendant Helots, probably about 1000 in all, proceeded to attack Pylus both by sea and land. Demosthenes, hauling up his galleys on shore, placed them so as to serve as an outwork to the adjacent part of his fortifica- tion, and having left for the defence of the walls on the land side all his troops except sixty hoplitae and a few bowmen, he led these in person to the sea-side, at the spot where he expected that the enemy would be tempted to debark, in consequence of the weakness of that part of the wall, and the lowness of the coast. The place nevertheless was rugged, difficult of access, and open to the main sea, so that the Lacedaemonians, however numerous, could not attack in large bodies at the same moment ; and hence the small force, headed by Demosthenes, was enabled to resist all the at- tacks of forty-three Laconian ships, while his garrison in the fortress successfully opposed the attempts of the enemy's land forces j until, having failed in all their endeavours during two days, the Lacedaemonians gave up the attack, and sent to Asine for timber to make engines, with a view to an assault on the fort, upon the side towards the harbour, where, though the wall was higher, the landing was easier. This ope- d d 2 404 SPHACTERIA. [CHAP. X. ration however was prevented, by the arrival from Zacynthus of forty ships of the Athe- nians, who the very next day attacked and de- feated the Lacedaemonian fleet in the harbour, and captured five of their triremes. The aspect of affairs was now totally changed ; — the Athenians were masters of the harbour, and threatened the entire destruction of the adverse fleet, while the enemy's garrison of Sphacteria was cut off from all probability of relief. In this alarming position, the Lacedae- monians agreed to a suspension of arms, for the purpose of sending ambassadors to Athens to treat for peace. The terms of the truce were, that all the Lacedaemonian fleet as well at Pylus as in the other parts of Laconia, should be placed in the hands of the Athenians during the truce, and that the troops in Sphacteria should be supplied with no more than a certain allowance of provisions at stated intervals. As soon as it was ascertained that the negociations at Athens had failed of producing any agree- ment, and the suspension of arms being in con- sequence at an end, an attack upon the enemy's forces in Sphacteria was resolved upon by the Athenians, not less in consideration of the ad- vantages under which such an attack would be made by them, than of their own situation, for at the same time that they were blockading the CHAP. X.] SPHACTERIA. 405 enemy in Sphacteria, they were themselves be- sieged in Pylus, where they suffered much from want of water, while to the Lacedaemonians in Sphacteria their friends brought provisions to the back of the island in the night, or whenever a strong wind setting in from the sea, obliged the Athenian galleys to keep at a distance from the shore ; nor could the Athenians forget how remote they were from Athens and their nearest resources, or avoid looking forward to the em- barrassed situation in which they would find themselves, if the contest should be prolonged until the approach of winter. Thucydides describes Sphacteria as " desert, pathless, covered with wood a , fifteen stades in length, and separated from the main land by two straits, of which the southern would admit eight or nine triremes abreast, the northern only two." At the moment when Demosthenes was me- ditating an attack, it happened that the Lace- daemonians, being much crowded, and making many fires for cooking their provisions, a con- flagration accidentally took place, which, clear- ing the ground of the wood, afforded the Athe- nian commander a better knowledge of the ene- my's position and numbers than he had be- fore possessed, as well as a greater facility for the movement of his troops, when they should 406 SPHACTERIA. [CHAP. X. be landed. Just at this time, Cleon, who was appointed the associate of Demosthenes in the command, arrived from Athens with a reinforce- ment. The first step taken was to send a pro- posal to the Lacedaemonians on the continent to treat for the surrender of their comrades on the island ; this having been refused, on the following evening all the Athenian hop- litae embarked in a few triremes, crossed the harbour in the night, and having landed a little before day, as well from the open sea as from the harbour, to the number of 800 hoplitaa, marched towards the advanced guard of the enemy. "For thus," adds the historian, "the Lacedaemonians lay quartered. In the advance there were about thirty hoplitae ; in the middle and most level part of the island, and around the water, lay Epitadas the commander, with the larger portion of his troops; the remainder, not many in number, occupied the extremity of the island towards Pylus, where it was preci- pitous towards the sea, and on the land side very difficult to attack. Here stood an old castle, built of rough stones a , which they thought might be useful to them, should they be obliged to retreat before superior numbers. Thus were they disposed." " The advanced posts were taken by surprise, CHAP. X.] SPHACTERIA. 407 and the men were captured or slain. In the morn- ing all the forces were landed from the Athenian fleet, which now amounted to upwards of seventy sail. The Athenian hoplitse opposed the Spartans in front, but without coming to an engagement, while their light troops occupying the heights in every direction, incessantly annoyed the ene- my's flanks and rear, and derived from their numbers a confidence which increased with suc- cess. The Spartans, tormented by adversaries whom they could not reach, and almost blinded by the dust of the woods lately burnt, were at length under the necessity of retreating to the old fort upon the hill towards Pylus. Here se- cured on their flanks and rear, and presenting a narrow front to the enemy, they resisted all the attacks of the very superior force of the enemy for the greater part of the day, and as both parties were almost equally distressed by fatigue, thirst, and the heat of the sun, they would probably have maintained their post still longer, had not the chief of the Messenians proposed to the Athenian commanders to lead a party of men under the cliffs where they should be un- seen by the Lacedaemonians, and thus to come round upon their rear. With some difficulty this movement was successfully effected, upon which the Lacedaemonians being summoned to surrender, and having received a sort of consent 408 SPHACTERIA. [CHAP. X. from their friends on the opposite side of the harbour, gave up their arms, and were conveyed prisoners on board the Athenian galleys to the number of 292, the rest of the 420 having been slain. The investment of Sphacteria had lasted seventy-two days, from the time of the naval action in the harbour. During the first twenty days, the Spartans received stated quantities of provisions, according to the terms of the truce ; during the remainder of the time they were supplied by stealth. The humiliation of their arrogant and hitherto successful enemy, was by no means the only advantage which the Athenians derived from their success at Py- lus ; for the Lacedaemonians lost also the whole of their fleet, which by the terms of the truce had been placed as a pledge in the hands of the Athenians, and which they now kept on the pretence, that during the truce the Lacedae- monians had, contrary to an article of the con- vention, committed hostilities against Pylus." An inspection of the island illustrates the de- scription of Tliucydides in the most satisfactory manner ; the level and source of water in the middle where the Lacedaemonians encamped— the summit at the northern end to which they retired — the landing-places on the western side, to which the Helots brought provisions, are all perfectly recognizable, Of the fort, of loose CHAP. X.] SPHACTERIA. 409 and rude construction on the summit, it is not to be expected that any remains should now exist ; but there are some ruins of a signal- tower of a later age, on the same site. The summit is a pile of rough rocks ending in a peak ; it slopes gradually to the shore on every side, except to the harbour, where the cliffs are perpendicular, though here, just above the water, there is a small slope capable of admitting the passage of a body of men active in climbing among rocks and difficult places. By this pass it is probable the Messenians came upon the rear of the Lacedaemonians on the summit, for just at the southern termination of the pass there is a passage through the cliffs which border the greater part of the eastern shore of the island, so that by this opening and along the pass under the rocks to the northward of it, the Messenians had the means of passing unseen from the centre of the island to the rear of the Lacedaemonians on the summit. Though this hill, as I have observed, slopes gradually from its rocky peak to the shore, on every side ex- cept towards the harbour, it does not admit of a landing at its foot, except in the calmest weather, nor is it easily assailed on any side by land, on account of the ruggedness of the sum- mit, except by the means to which the Mes- senians resorted, so that the words of Thucy- 410 SPHACTERIA. [CHAP. X. dides respecting it are perfectly accurate a . The southern extremity of the island is rocky, steep, and difficult of access, and forms a separate hill ; in every other part the ground slopes from the cliffs on the side of the harbour to the western shore, which, though rocky, is low, so that when the weather is calm, it is more easy in face of an opponent to land, and to make way into the island on that side than on the eastern shore, where the cliffs admit of an easy access only in two places, one towards the northern end, of which I have already spoken, the other in the middle of the island, where an opening in the cliffs leads immediately into the most level part of it ; exactly in the opening stands a small church of the Panaghia. There are also two small creeks adjacent to each other, near the southern end of the eastern side of the island, opposite to Neokastro : near these creeks there is a well. The principal source of water is towards the middle of the island, at an excavation in the rock twenty feet deep, which seems to be more natural than artificial ; for below a shallow sur- face of soil, in which there is a circular peristo- mium of modern masonry, the excavation in the rock is irregular and slanting. The island furnishes a fine pasture in the present season, and horses at sixty paras a head are sent into it CHAP. X.] CORYPHASIUM. 411 for the spring fodder, to which in Turkey they are universally accustomed. They have no- thing to drink all the time they are in the island. In one or two places there are groves of high bushes, and there are low shrubs in every part of it. It often happens, as it did in the seventh summer of the Peloponnesian war, that a fire, occurring accidentally or of intention, clears the face of the island during the droughts of that season : the northern hill exhibits at this moment recent marks of a similar conflagration. The promontory Coryphasium is crowned with the ruins of a fortress or castle of the middle ages, called Paleo-Avarino a . Avarino has been changed into Navarino by the habit of using the accusative case, etg rov ' A^oc^lvov, and by at- taching, in common pronunciation, the final N of the article to the substantive. Navarino, however, is a form of the name, more Italian than Greek. Below the ruined fortress on the northern side, at the bottom of the cliffs, there is a fine cavern called Vodhio, or Yoidho-Kilia b , "the ox's belly", which gives name also to a small circular port immediately below it. The cavern is sixty feet long, forty wide, and forty high, having a roof like a Gothic arch. The entrance is triangular, thirty feet long and twelve high ; at the top of the cavern there is a UccXuiOi; ' 'A^a^i'vo?. b Bo'iSo-KOtMcl. 412 CORYPHASIUM. [CHAP. X. an opening in the surface of the hill above, which may have served for a secret communica- tion between the castle of Avarino and the har- bour. In the cavern just under the hole, I found a dead hare, which seems to have been killed by falling through it. The earth of the cavern is used for making nitre, by a process of simple boiling and crystallization. There is another cavern in the cliffs, on the northern side of the harbour, not so large as the Voidho-Kilia. The harbour has a narrow entrance between low abrupt cliffs ; it is nevertheless bad, exposed to a continual surf, and capable only of admitting boats. It is separated, by a low semicircular ridge of sand, from a large shallow lagoon abounding in fish, the catching of which is a monopoly belonging to the government, and is generally farmed by the governor of Neokastro. The lagoon encompasses all the eastern side of the hill of Coryphasium, and is separated from the harbour of Navarin by another sandy stripe of land, in which there is a narrow opening which forms the communication between the harbour and the lagoon : there is a sandy level between the hill and the lagoon, both at the northern and at the southern extremity of the promontory. Pausanias a thus describes Coryphasium. a Pausan. Messen. c. 36. CHAP. X.] CORYPHASIUM. 4-13 " There is a road, of not more than a hundred stades in length, from Mothone to the promon- tory Coryphasium, upon which Pylus is situ- ated; this city was founded by Pylus, son of Cle- son, with a colony of Leleges from the Megaris, but who, having been soon driven out by some Pelasgi from Iolcus, who were led by Neleus, went to the neighbouring country of Eleia, and there founded another Pylus. Neleus raised Pylus to such dignity that Homer calls it N?j- "hri'tov clarrv. Here is a temple of Minerva Cory- phasia, and a house named the House of Nestor, which contains a picture of him. Within the town there is a monument a of Nestor, and a little without the town that which is called the tomb of Thrasymedes. In the city there is a cavern which is said to have been the stable of the oxen of Neleus and Nestor. It appears to me, that these oxen fed at a distance from the city, for all around it the country is sandy, and this Homer testifies, who always calls Nestor king of the sandy Pylus. The island Sphacte- ria lies before the harbour of Pylus, like Rhe- neia before the anchorage of Delus. In like manner as other obscure places, such as Capha- reus and Psyttaleia, have been rendered cele- brated by human fortunes, so also Sphacteria has been made known to all the world, by the 414 CORYPHASIUM. [CHAP. X. defeat of the Lacedaemonians ; in memory of which event the Athenians erected a statue of Victory in the Acropolis.' ' It is here seen, that Pausanias, like Thucydi- des, says not a word of the lagoon near Cory- phasium, which now forms so remarkable a fea- ture in the topography of Navarin : we may con- fidently conclude, therefore, that it is of recent formation. The mode in which such shallow maritime salt lakes (by the ancients called Xip- voQuXarrcu, or (rropcchifjLvui) are formed in pro- cess of time on low sandy shores is well known : and the frequency of their occurrence on the coasts of the Mediterranean, renders the sup- position of the ancient non-existence of the la- goon the more probable in the present instance. The peninsula of Pylus must, in that case, have been surrounded anciently with a sandy plain as Pausanias describes it, and thus the epithet of Homer becomes so much the more applicable to the Coryphasian Pylus. Coryphasium, like Sphacteria, is a precipice on the eastern side, or towards the lagoon. To the westward, or towards the open sea, it slopes gradually, particularly on the south-west, where Demosthenes succeeded in opposing the landing of Brasidas and the Lacedeemonians. Like the island also, the promontory is higher at the northern end, so that the cliffs on the eastern CHAP. X.] PYLUS. 415 side of the hill diminish in height from north to south : it was at the latter extremity, where the shore, though rocky, is sheltered from the open sea, that a debarkation was more practicable; and here it seems to have been that the Lace- daemonians, after having failed in the former attempt to land, projected an attack upon the wall of the Athenians ; for here, though the wall was higher, the landing, as Thucydides ob- serves, was easier than in other parts. In the clear and consistent narrative of the contemporary historian, there is but one asser- tion which can offer any difficulty on an actual inspection of the locality. He says that the northern entrance of the harbour of Pylus ad- mitted of the passage of two ships, and the southern of eight or nine \ Now the southern entrance is certainly more than 1200 yards b wide, and the northern is about 150 ; the pro- portions of the numbers, therefore, do not agree, and even if we were to apply his remark to the northern entrance, as furnishing the lower scale of comparison, it would follow that the ancient triremes required a space of between two and three hundred feet for their movements, which it is impossible to believe. All that can be said in explanation is, that Thucydides was not 3 rr, fjuh SviTi noXt lixvXwv, b A recent survey makes rrXi oktu >j hveot. it more than 1400. 416 PYLUS. £ CHAP. X. himself engaged in the affair at Pylus, being employed at that time in Thrace ; so that he may never have seen or carefully examined the breadth of the harbour's mouth, and may have been misinformed respecting it. According to the truce entered into by the Lacedaemonians and Athenians in the ninth year of the Peloponnesian war, the Lacedaemo- nian garrison in Coryphasium was not to pass beyond the mountains Buphras and Tomeus a . As the object of the article must have been to give that garrison the advantage of the plain to a certain extent to the eastward, it is pro- bable that Buphras and Tomeus were the two hills now called Kondozoni and Tavolaki. I will not pretend to say which of them has the best claim by its form to have received its name from a supposed resemblance to the instrument for cutting leather called ropzvc, . The situation of the HvXog N;jX?7/o£, or Pylus of Neleus and his successors, appears to have been a much disputed question in the time of the Roman Empire. Strabo quotes a prover- bial verse, to shew that there were three Pyli near the western coast of the Peloponnesus c , 8 Thucyd. 1. 4. c. 118. Ectt* y.a.i To[x.x7ov o^oq xu^ct to K.oev$cccrK>ii rov TLvXov lomoq o-juiA*). Stephan. in To^ivq. c ' E.ev i^a9oivrof. Xluv Stat yaf»j. II. E. v. 545. H- I. vv. 153. 295. c »£Myi nCxov 'upaQiivToq. e Strabo, pp. 337. 350. VOL. I. E E 418 PYLUS. [chap. X. to the northward of the Alpheius, and that it included the Pisatis, having been bounded per- haps by the cape now called Katakolo, and the ridge which branches inland from thence. Strabo a allows that the Messenian Pylii had a better claim than those of the Eleia to the honour in question, and admits that the greater part of the poets and later writers, supposed Nestor to have been of Messenia, as indeed, we find, upon a reference to Pindar, Thucydides, Diodorus b , and others. But, he adds, the 'OfjLYjgDtcorzgoi, or those who followed the words of Homer, insisted that the Pylus of Nestor must have been that, through the lands of which the Alpheius flowed, and this argument, the only one which the Pylii of Eleia could adduce for their claim, he thinks applicable to Pylus of Triphylia. In favour of the Pylii of Triphylia, against those of Coryphasium, he brings forward the following passages of the poet. First, the de- scription which Nestor gives in the Iliad c of his juvenile exploits against the Epeii, in revenge for the hostilities of Hercules against Pylus, in which all the children of Neleus, except Nestor, had perished. Nestor having resolved upon a a Strabo, pp. 339, 340. 1. 15. c. 66. b Pind. Pyth. Od. 6. v. 35. c Horn. II. A. CC9. Thucyd. 1. 4. c. 3. — Diodor. CHAP. X.] PYLUS. 419 predatory incursion into Elis, marched thither suddenly and carried off fifty herds of oxen, as many of sheep, as many of hogs, as many of goats, with fifty mares followed by numerous foals. All these, some of which, observes Stra- bo, were animals neither capable of moving fast nor far a , Nestor lodged safely at night in the Neleian city. The third day, the Epeii having collected their forces at Thryoessa, on the Al- pheius, with the intention of besieging it, the news was brought to Pylus in the night by Mi- nerva, upon which Nestor led forth his cavalry, and after a day's march halted at the Minyeius, which joined the sea near Arene b . Here he waited until the morning, when, moving forward, he arrived on the Alpheius at noon. Both these operations, says Strabo, were impracticable if the Neleian city had been at Coryphasium, but practicable if the situation was that of the Tri- phyliac Pylus. His arguments from the Odyssey are, that after Telemachus, coming from Ithaca, had dis- embarked at the temple of Neptune, and arrived a ovh ukwo^uv, ovSz waxgo- p. 347,) was the same river 7ro£Ei'v. — Strabo, p. 353. as the Anigrus; and that b It must be remembered Arene, as we have seen both that the Minyeius., so called from Strabo and Pausanias, from the Minyse, who once was probably the same place possessed this country, (v. as Samicum, (v. Chapter II.) Herodot. 1. 4. c 148.— Strabo, E E 2 420 PYLUS. [chap. X. at Pylus, a courier was dispatched to the ship to invite his companions a ; and again, that on returning from Sparta and approaching Pylus, Telemachus desired Pisistratus to turn off to the sea-side b : — both these incidents, says Strabo , shewing that the city of Nestor was not on the sea-side, like the Messeniac Pylus, but removed from it, like the Triphyliac, which was more than thirty stades distant from the shore. Again d , that Telemachus, on his return from Pylus towards Ithaca, speaks only of his passing Cruni, Chalcis, Pheia, and Elis ; whereas, says Strabo e , had Nestor lived at Coryphasium, his route would have been marked by the great rivers Neda, Acidon, and Alpheius, instead of such obscure brooks or places as Cruni, Chalcis, and Pheia. The geographer then applies the same tests to the Eliac Pylus, and easily shews the absur- dity of its claim, though he strangely errs in supposing that this Pylus was on the sea-side f , since we have the testimony of Pausanias who visited its ruins, in agreement with that of other authors, to shew that it was situated some ten miles farther inland than the city of Elis g . * Horn. Od. r. 423. f Ibid. pp. 339. 350. b Ibid. O. 199. 8 Diodor. 1. 14. c. 17— c Strabo, p. 350. Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. 4. c 5.— <* Horn. Od. O. 295. Pausan. Eliac. post. c. 22. e Strabo, p. 351. CHAP. X.] PYLUS. 421 In support of the opinion which places the Neleian Pylus at Coryphasium, now Old Nava- rin, it may first be replied to Strabo, that the march of Nestor to the Minyeius, supposing it to have been performed solely with ca- valry, was not impracticable, for the inform- ation of Minerva having been received in the night, it was not difficult to make a forty miles' march with cavalry before the ensuing evening. As to the driving of the cattle, that perhaps must be admitted as a poetical licence, like the numbers of each kind of cattle so curiously enumerated by the poet ; indeed, if possibility is to be considered, Stra- bo's hypothesis will hardly stand that test, since it would scarcely have been possible to drive such a multitude of cattle from the Alpheius to the Triphyliac Pylus, on the evening of a day which had been employed in collecting them. In regard to the argument founded upon the mention by Homer of Cruni, Chalcis, and Pheia, and upon his not mentioning the Neda and Al- pheius, it is to be observed that, in either case, whether Telemachus came from the Triphyliac or the Messenian Pylus, the Alpheius was to be passed. The omission of that great river, there- fore, is to be accounted for in either case. But, in fact, the verse which names those places, though Strabo himself considered it as genuine, 422 PYLUS. [chap. X. is of very doubtful authenticity. It occurs again in the Hymn to Apollo, together with some other lines, in all which the topography is confused and unintelligible upon any hypo- thesis. The verse was not admitted by Di- dymus, and was first added by Barnes upon the authority alone of Strabo. In support of the claim of the Messeniac Pylus it may be said, that the epithet sandy is peculiarly well suited to Coryphasium, which is a peninsula surrounded by an extensive plain of sand, now in great part occupied by a la- goon, but anciently, as it would appear from Pausanias and other authors, not so submerged. Strabo, it may be remarked on this head, conscious apparently that the epithet sandy would not apply to the Triphyliac Pylus, where there is no sand except on the sea-shore near Samicum and towards the Neda, is under the necessity of supposing that UvX&g rtpaOostg meant Pylus on the Amathus, a river not mentioned by any other author, but which he supposes to have been the same called in his time Mamaus, or Pamisus, or Arcadicus a . In reference to the argument which Strabo derives from the too great proximity of Coryphasium to the sea, because it would have been unnecessary for Telemachus a Strabo, pp. 336. 339. 344. CHAP. X.] PYLUS. 423 to have proceeded to the city in a chariot, or to have sent it afterwards to the sea-side for his companions, the objection would be valid enough, if the landing had taken place in the port of Voidhokilia, but if it was effected in the harbour of Navarin, where it is more probable that the temple of Neptune stood, the use of the chariot of Pisistratus would have been very convenient to Telemachus and his companions. But the strongest arguments in favour of Coryphasium seem to be the two following, first, the much greater probability that Neleus should have chosen for his settlement a strong site and a fine harbour, than a place which af- forded neither the one nor the other, and where Telemachus, having come from Ithaca with a brisk maestrale, such as Minerva gave him b , could not have landed at all : — and, secondly, the situation of Coryphasium, or the Messenian Pylus, relatively to Pherae and Sparta. In fact, these three places lie exactly in a direct line ; from Pylus to Pherae there is a distance of about thirty-five miles by the road, chiefly of level ground ; — from Pherae to Sparta there are about twenty-eight miles, chiefly of mountain. Telemachus, going from Pylus to Sparta, drove his horses thither, without changing them, in two a Horn. Od. B. 420. 424 PYLUS. [chap. X. days, lodging the first night at Pherae, and he returned to Pylus in the same manner a . The position of Coryphasium, therefore, is perfectly conformable to this incident in the story, where- as, if the Triphyliac Pylus had been the residence of Nestor, Telemachus would have had a jour- ney of sixty miles the first and the last days of his journey, and Pherae would not have been on his nearest road. The chief objection to Paleo Avarino as the site of a capital city, is the scarcity of water, an inconvenience which the Athenians experienced when they defended Coryphasium. It may, perhaps, have been one reason why Pylus never flourished as a city, except during the Neleian dynasty. After the return of the Heracleidae it seems to have gradually declined, until, at the end of the second Messenian war, the inhabit- ants migrated into Sicily, in preference to re- maining under the Lacedaemonian yoke, and its name never occurs again in history until the Peloponnesian war, when we find it a " desert promontory." Though Strabo and Pausanias shew that Pylus had so far revived in the time of the Roman empire as to possess some inha- bitants, it was probably quite deserted before the middle ages, when we may suppose the * Horn. Od. r. 405— o. 182. CHAP. X.] AVARINO. 425 castle now existing with the name Avarino a to have arisen. This name, I believe, is not found in history before the middle of the fifteenth century, when it occurs in the narrative of Phranza, and in a marginal note of Gemistus Pletho, as the situation of the Messenian Pylus. Chalcocondylas, relating the same transaction as Phranza, does not mention the name Avarino, though he speaks repeatedly of Pylus, prefer- ing, undoubtedly, as in other instances, the classical to the real appellation. It is probable that the modern name is of the same date as the ruined castle to which it now belongs, and that it came into use together with the names Morea, Myzithra, Maini, Ieraki, Monemvasia, which, though we do not meet with them in the Byzantine history before the year 1300, are pro- bably as early in their origin, or nearly so, as those of Ioannina and some others in northern Greece, which are found to have existed in the eleventh century. There is no portion of the Peloponnesus less noticed by ancient authors, than the part of Messenia lying between Coryphasium and Cy- parissia, though its length is not less than twenty miles. It consists of a long and lofty ridge lying in a direction parallel to the shore, and 'A& «g. 186 JEGALEUM, ERANA. [CHAP. X. connected, eastward, with Blount Kondovuui and the mountain of Arkadhia. The ancient name of this ridge, at least in its southern part, appears from Straho to have been ./Egaleum, for under JEsraleum, according to the g;eosrra- pher, stood the Messenian Pylus, from whence, he says, when that city was ruined, some of the remaining inhabitants went to settle at the pro- montory Coryphasium, giving to it the name of Pylus \ That he conceived the original Mes- senian Pylus and Coryphasium to have been separate places, though near to one another, is apparent, from his describing them as " mari- time castles b , situated at a distanue of 400 stades from Pylus of Triphylia. M c Pausanias has not noticed a single place be- tween Pylus and Cyparissia, but Strabo twice mentions a town of Erana d as so situated ; he names another place Platamodes, distant 1£0 stades from Coryphasium e , and if his text be correct, a third called Cenerium. "Beyond Cy- parisseeis," he says f , "in sailing along the coast to the Messeniac Pylus and Coryphasium, there occurs Erana, which some improperly suppose to have been called Arene-, being the same * Strabo, p. 359. e Strabo, p. 348. 1 Id. ibid. r Strabo, p. 348. r This remark is repeated 1 Id, pp. 348. 361. by Strabo. p. 361. CHAP. X.] PLATAMODES. 427 name as that of the town near Pylus (of Tri- phylia). There is likewise a certain Platamo- des, from whence to Coryphasium, and the place which is now named Pylus, the distance is 120 stades. There is also a zspygiov (cenotaph) and a small town of that name." It seems not improbable that Cenerium was the same old site of Pylus, which the geographer describes a as lying under Mount ^Egaleum, and that the name Cenerium was derived from a cenotaph of Neleus, or Nestor, which may have existed there. As Platamodes was 120 stades distant from Coryphasium, its situation appears to have been not far from that of Aia Kyriaki ; Erana, therefore, according to Strabo, must have been between that position and Arkadhia. Pliny places a promontory, Platanodes, be- tween the Alpheius and the Gulf of Cyparissia ° j in which, as we have just seen, he is at variance with the better authority of Strabo. But it is not improbable that he confounded Platanodes with Platanistus, and that KhaiafFa was the place intended by him, that being the only projection of the coast between the Alpheius and Cypa- a Strabo, p. 359. Cyparissius sinus cum urbe b Promontorium Icthys, Cyparissia. Pliu. H. N. 1. 4. aniuis Alpheus — promontori- c. 5. uni Platanodes— ad meridiem 428 PROTE, SELA. [CHAP. X. rissia ; for that Platanistus was near Khaiaffa, may be inferred from the circumstance of the temple of Neptune Samius, near Samicum, hav- ing been in the custody of the Macistii, or inha- bitants of Macistus, which town in the time of Strabo was called Platanistus. The island opposite to Gargaliano still pre- serves its ancient name, Proti a , though some of the Greek seamen, following the Italian corrup- tion, call it Prodano. Ptolemy thus enumerates the places on the western coast of Messenia, in a direction from north to south. Cyparissiae, the promontory Cyparissium, the mouth of the river Sela, Pylus, the promontory Coryphasium, Methone. Hence it would seem that the promontory on the southern side of Arkadhia had no other distinction than the name of the neighbouring city. In like manner it is now known by that of the Cape of Arkadhia. Sela was probably the river Longovardho. April 28. — This afternoon, at 3.10, in com- pany with Kyr Ikonomopulo, I quit Navarin for Mothoni. The road leads between a desert hill at the back of Neokastro, and a high peaked mountain sloping on the north and west directly into the sea, and called Mount St. Nicholas, ■ Thucyd. 1. 4. c. 13. Stephan in n^urh. CHAP. X.] TO MOTHONI. 429 from a church of that saint near the summit, which is much frequented by the women of the neighbourhood on the saint's feast day, and some other occasions. The ruins of an old Ve- netian aqueduct are seen in the hollow near the road side : at 3.43 we are directly under the summit of St. Nicholas. At 4.10 enter the corn- fields and olive plantations belonging to the Modon-Kazasi, or district of Mothoni, with a small village, called 'Opsimo, on the left. The soil is of a deep red colour, and not reckoned very good : it is prepared for kalambokki. From hence to Mothoni the road lies through plantations of olives. The Menzil distance from Neokastro is exactly two hours. At one mile and a half short of the town, I leave the road and turn to the hill on the right to see an excavation in the rock, which, since it ceased to be a Hellenic sepulchre, has been a chapel or hermitage, as appears by the remains of some Greek paintings ; it now serves for a sheepfold, though still known by the name of the saint to whom it was dedicated, Aio Onufrio, or St. Humphrey \ Mothoni is situated on the ex- treme point of a rocky ridge, which stretches southward along the coast from the foot of Mount St. Nicholas. Off the outer end of the 430 MOTHONI. [CHAP. X. town is the little insulated rock, which Pausa- nias a calls Mothon, and which he describes as forming at once a narrow entrance and a shelter to the harbour of his time : it is now occupied by a tower and lantern, which is connected by a bridge with the fortification of Mothoni. A mole branches from it, which runs parallel to the eastern wall of the town, and forms a har- bour for small vessels. It seems to be exactly in the position of the ancient port, the entrance into which was probably where the bridge now stands. My lodging is in a kiosque, or Turkish casino, in the garden of the commandant, Mehmet Aga. This garden and several others mixed with corn-fields and olive plantations, -embellish a small plain on the eastern side of the town, in the midst of which there is a fine well, constructed by the Venetians, and abridge over a torrent now dry. The place is suffering much from the want of rain. April 29. — Visit Mehmet Aga and the town. Just within the land gate is the old Venetian piazza ; in the midst of it stands the shaft of an ancient granite column about three feet in diameter and twelve feet high, with a barbarous base and capital, which appear to have been added by the Venetians when they fixed upon b Pausan. Messen. c. 35. CHAP. X.] MOTHONI. 431 the top of it a figure of the Lion of St. Mark, the usual symbol of the Venetian Republic, and which the Turks of the Morea call To aio skyli a , " the sacred dog." On one side of it I distin- guish the following characters : COL CCCCUCXXXIII H uiceR nic lgo S^fre^ on the opposite side these — R oTl FR^C/SCI BK flOSPlCIT ALtTI ft\A R.I5 The date appears to have been 1493, and the last words of the inscription " prospicit alta ma- ris." The lion, however, did not keep a good look-out, for Mothoni was taken from the Ve- netians by Sultan Bayazid the Second, only six years afterwards. There are steps leading up to the pedestal of the column. The town of Mothoni contains 400 Turkish families, living in poverty and idleness. Their chief traffic is in black slaves, whom they embark on the coast of Africa, and sell to the Musulmans of Greece. The fortifications are in a wretched state of repair, though in construction they are to aytov ti/?u. 432 MOTHONI. [CHAP. X. far more respectable than those of Neokastro ; the land-front has a much higher profile, and there is a ditch intended to be wet and to com- municate from sea to sea, but now dry and full of rubbish. Towards the sea both towers and walls are falling to ruin. Mothoni is one of those convenient and important situations which have always been occupied : and hence it is that we find no remains of Hellenic antiquity, the materials having been long since converted to the repair of modern dwellings and fortifica- tions. Strabo and other authors write the name MeQuvtj ; by Pausanias it is written, as at present, Mo&y'vjj. The difference is merely dialectic, and the present form was perhaps always in use in Messenia. Pausanias a remarked here a temple and statue of Minerva Anemotis, founded, it was said, by Diomedes, because, upon his pray- ers, the goddess mitigated the violence of the winds which injured the district, and thence- forth, adds Pausanias, the winds have continued to be moderate. Standing upon a promontory open to a great expanse of sea in the direction of the prevailing breezes, Mothoni enjoys a temperate and salubrious climate, though I doubt not, that in spite of Minerva it is often 3 Pausan. Messen. c. 35. CHAP. X.] MOTHONI. 433 exposed to furious gales in winter, and even in summer may have sometimes too much of the Etesian breezes. There was a temple of Diana at Methone, and a well of bituminous water 3 , which Pausanias describes as similar to ointment of Cyzicus b , both in smell and colour. I cannot learn any tidings of it. The Greeks of Mothoni live in a suburb c on the height to the northward of the fortress, where are about forty houses. The villages of the Kaza, in number forty-five, are entirely inhabited by Greeks. The oil of the Vilayeti amounts in good years to 4000 barrels for exportation, besides what is consumed in the district. A small quantity of silk is usually put on board a ship from Tunis, which takes annually about 2500 okes of the same commodity from Koroni, and 3000 from Nisi: there is generally also some exportation of wine and cotton, in the vessels of the place. The islands of Sapienza and Skhiza, anciently called GEnussae, arc con- sidered, like those of Prote and Sphacteria, valu- able for the pasture which they afford to cattle and horses in the spring. Between Sapienza and Skhiza there is another smaller island, a fourth a llui h

{. Ol xspaAoi tlyLov- the fisheries of those shallow t«» tw l\vv. Arist. Hist. An. maritime lakes. From the 1. 8. c. 2. 'o x.i. frequents the rivers, it attains d et» OuXclaar,. the greatest size and fatness CHAP. X.] CORONE. 441 plane tree, resembling a small cavern within, and supplies Corone with water for drinking. The ancient name of this city was Epeia ; but when, by means of the Thebans, the Mes- senians were restored to Peloponnesus, it is said that Epimelides, who was sent to be the founder, called it Coroneia, because he was from Coroneia in Bceotia ; that the Messenians were not in the beginning correct in the name, (calling it Corone instead of Coroneia,) and that their error has been confirmed by time. But there is another story, concerning the nomination of the city, namely that those who were digging the foundations of the wall found a brazen crow \ There is a temple in Corone of Diana Paedotrophus, and temples of Bac- chus and of iEsculapius, which contain statues of the gods in stone. In the agora there is a brazen statue of Jupiter Soter, and in the Acropolis, in the open air b , a brazen statue of Minerva holding a crow in her hand. I saw also a monument of Epimelides. Why they call the harbour the port of the Achae- ans I do not know. Eighty stades beyond Corone stands a temple of Apollo near the sea c , much honoured by the Messenians, who assert that it is extremely ancient, and that the god, KQQVVY). b lv v~a.i6pui. c w§&; QtzXclcrcy. 442 COLONIDES, ASINE. [CHAP. X. who is surnamed Corynthus, cures diseases. There is a wooden statue of Apollo Corynthus, and another in brass of Apollo Argeus, said to have been dedicated by those who sailed in the ship Argo. Colonides borders on Corone. The town a stands upon a height at a short distance from the sea b . The natives affirm that they are not Messenians, but a colony brought from At- tica by Colaenus, who, by command of the oracle, followed hither a lark , and that in process of time they adopted the Doric dialect and manners. " The Asineei in the beginning inhabited on the borders of the Lycoritse of Mount Parnassus, and were called from their founder Dry opes, which name they brought with them to the Pe- loponnesus. At first they inhabited Asine near Hermione ; being ejected from thence by the Argives, they received a portion of Messenia from the Lacedaemonians. The Asinaei are the only people of the race of the Dryopes who take a pride in the name, and they have evi- dently made the most venerated of their sanc- tuaries in memory of those formerly established in Parnassus. Such are the temple of Apollo, and the sanctuary and ancient statue of Dryops, in whose honour they have a yearly ceremony, * 'JlO'hiJfJ.Ci. b S7T» V^rfaV jAiy-iCV U.TTQ 6«- ?\ua5s K.ogwi'ij?, nocrd p. 361. (Aiaov 7ru<; Ton xoXttov. Strabo, b vno to ope* Twp,«9/a. CHAP. X.J CORONE, ETC. 445 roni probably occupies the site of Colonides, its distance from Cape Gallo according with the eighty stades of road distance, which Pausanias has given between Colonides and Cape Acritas. The resemblance of the names, Colonides and Corone, may easily account for the substitution of the one for the other in the barbarous ages, which gave rise to the new nomenclature of Greece. Or it is not impossible that when the fertility of the surrounding plain, or the mari- time commerce, or the security, or whatever else may have been the attractions of the mo- dern Koroni, caused the greater part of the population of the western side of the Messeniac gulf to be there collected ; either an attach- ment to the name, which had formerly been that of the principal town, or a large proportion of emigrants from the ancient Corone may have induced the community to substitute the name of Corone for that of Colonides. We have other examples to shew that the modern Greeks have sometimes made a new and differ- ent local application of the ancient names of places. In the Morea, those of Arcadia of Achaia may be cited, and that of Mantineia at the head of the Thuriate gulf. In northern Greece, the name of Ambracia, which has been transferred from its former site to a place on the opposite side of the Gulf of Arta, is an 446 CORONE, ETC. [CHAP. X. example still more exactly in coincidence with what I suppose to have occurred in the case of Corone ; in all these instances the names have probably been applied to new positions, by co- lonists from the old sites. It will be a further consequence of placing Corone at Petalidhi, that the temple of Apollo Corynthus stood near Kastelia, the distance of this place from Petalidhi answering sufficiently to the eighty stades of Pausanias. His words, vgog Qcc^cMr,ov\j.ivu.<; y-cti ru. £7T») t« tiav- 448. wccxtkx., TT^uf St ccvto7c ottoc-ci. K»- b Pausan. Messen. c. 2, 33. vu ® m KCci " Affl0 < *y™**y»nu. 'Imte&tw r« ; rs 'Holuc Pausan. Messen. c. 2. 456 MESSENIA. [CHAP. XI. the first Messenian capital : it was founded by Polycaon, the son of Lelex, and husband of Mes- sene, and it continued to be the residence of five generations of his successors, as well as that of Perieres, son of iEolus, the founder of a new dynasty. This sovereign having rewarded the services of Melaneus, a man renowned for his skill in archery, and hence called the son of Apollo, with a grant of land near Andania, Me- laneus there founded a town to which he gave the name of his wife, CEchalia. Eurytus, whose memory was long venerated by the Messenians, succeeded his father, Melaneus, in the possession of this part of Messenia ; he seems to be the same person mentioned by Homer, in alluding to the death of Thamyris at Dorium % though the poet designates that person as the son of GEchaleus. Meantime, Aphareus, son of Perieres, who had bestowed Pylus upon Neleus, a fugitive to Messenia from Iolcus, founded, for his own fa- mily, Arene, which, as we have already seen, was probably the Samicum of the time of the Roman empire, or the modern Khaiaffa. On the death of the two sons of Aphareus, Nestor became the sovereign of Messenia b , and Pylus a K«t YItbXcov, y.xt 'EAo;, y.ccl Augiop, tv9a. ri Movcroti Ano'/i-ts:! Qcc^v^iv tou ®pr,'ixoc Travaocv aojdJjj, II. B. v. 594. 11 Pausan. Messen. c. 3. CHAP. XI.] MESSENIA. 457 consequently succeeded to Arene, as the royal residence. We are told by Strabo, upon the authority of Ephorus a , that one of the first acts of the He- racleidae, upon entering into possession of the conquered provinces of the Peloponnesus, was to form a new subdivision of each of them ; and that while Eurysthenes and Procles divided La- conia into six parts, Cresphontes partitioned Messenia into five, the chief places of which appear from Strabo and from Stephanus, who probably followed Strabo, to have been named Stenyclerus, Pylus, Rhium, Messola, and Hya- meia. Cresphontes made Stenyclerus the royal residence, and built a palace there for the use of himself and his successors b . The establishment of the other four cities was connected with a benevolent design entertained by Cresphontes, of amalgamating his Doric colonists with the Messenians, and of granting to the conquered people the same privileges enjoyed by his own followers ; having probably been induced to this policy, which differed from that of the Hera- cleidae occupants of Laconia, by the circum- stance that none of the Messenians had mi- grated from their country on this occasion, as the Achaians had done from Laconia. Finding, - Strabo, p. 3G1. ,} Id. Ibid Pausan. Mcssen. c. 3. 458 MESSENIA. [CHAP. XI. however, that his Dorians were adverse to the project, he collected them all in Stenyclerus, and declared it the only city in Messenia \ But these concessions appear to have been insuffi- cient, for we are told by Pausanias that Cres- phontes and all his sons, except iEpytus, lost their lives by a conspiracy of the great proprie- tors, who were offended at his shewing too much favour to the people. iEpytus was then very young, and was living with his father-in- law Cypselus, king of Arcadia. He was after- wards restored to his kingdom by the aid of the Arcadians and some chiefs of Doric race, after which the iEpytidae continued to reign in Steny- clerus to the sixth generation from iEpytus, when the first Messenian war with Sparta began. Each of the ^pytidge is noticed by Pausanias for the introduction of some new religious wor- ship into Messenia, with the exception of Do- tadas, son of Isthmius, who, more intent, appa- rently, upon political than religious affairs, added Mothone to the other naval arsenals or harbours 6 of Messenia. Of the five divisions of Messenia just enu- merated, Stenyclerus probably contained all the upper Messenian plain above the ridge of Skala, together with the surrounding hills. The city * Sirabo, p. 361.— Pausan. Messcn. c. 3. b Isriwt*. CHAP. XI.] MESSENTA. 459 itself we may suppose to have occupied some position in the plain, between the site of CEcka- lia and Skala. Messola still preserved its name in the time of Strabo % and was situated, as I have already remarked, near the coast lying be- tween Cape Kurtissa and Kalamata. Rhium also was near the interior part of the Messeniac gulf, for thus undoubtedly we must interpret the Sovgiurrjs KoXvog, or Thuriate gulf, in which Strabo says that Rhium was situated ; the outer part of the same great gulf having, according to the geographer, been called Messeniac, or Asinsean b . He adds, that Rhium was a^-svav- riov Tctivocgov, other MSS. have T&vsdov and Tuiv'&dov, — perhaps Tocvysrou is the right word ; for as to Tasnarum, no place on the western coast, except the vicinity of Cape Acritas, not even the modern Koroni, is in sight from Ta3- narum. Upon the whole, therefore, it seems probable that Messola and Rhium shared be- tween them all the Messenian plain below the ridge of Skala, from the borders of Laconia to Mount Temathia, the Pamisus perhaps forming the boundary between them. Pylus, it may be supposed, occupied all the south-western ex- tremity of Messenia, and Hyameia all the north- a Miaa-rfna-KOV koXttov ' y.ecMvo-i, no>.lyjir^ TTgfirnjS h tu koXttu. 8 avrlv kx\ 'ao-woc'iov, cckV Ao'ivr.e, Strabo, p. 360. * Id. p. 3.59. 460 IVJESSENIA. [CHAP. XI, western part, as far north along the western coast as Messenia then extended. Its limits, undoubtedly, were not then by any means so extensive in that direction, as the Pylian king- dom under the Neleidse had been, when the Al- pheius washed their territory on either bank, for the Eleians were now in possession of Olympia, and a Doric dynasty reigned over the Eleia and Pisatis. After the first Messenian war, at the same time that the Lacedaemonians gave Asine to the Asineei of Argolis, Hyameia was bestowed upon the posterity of Androcles, one of the ^Epytidse who had been slain in a contest with his brother Antiochus, and whose family had fled to Sparta a . The Androclidae, notwith- standing, joined the Messenians in the second war, and two of them were slain in the principal action of that war, called the Battle at the Great Dike b . For the history of the Messenian wars with Sparta, which form one of the most interesting chapters in Grecian history, we are indebted almost exclusively to Pausanias. Although com- piled by an author who lived eight centuries after the events, from the materials of other writers who lived four centuries after them, the narrative has a greater semblance of authen- a Pausan. Mcssen. c. 14. b Id. Messen. c. 17- CHAP. XI.] MESSENIA. 46l ticity than many parts of the history of Greece much more recent. From the prose composition of Myron of Priene, Pausanias derived the his- tory of the first war; from the poem of Rhianus* all the remaining transactions, and the better taste of the time of his authorities seems to have diffused itself over his text. The only coetane- ous author whose works he could have consulted, but from which he could have derived only a few leading facts, was Tyrtaeus, an Athenian poet and schoolmaster b , who resided at Sparta during the second war, and who was said to have been present at the battle of the Great Dike. The Lacedaemonians had felt the full effects of the institutions of Lycurgus, in forming a military people formidable to all their neigh- bours, when the affray at Limnae, differently related by the two parties, but certainly involv- ing the death of Teleclus, king of Sparta, fur- nished a pretext, although not until after the interval of another generation, for the first Mes- senian war, which began in the second year of the 9th Olympiad, b.c 74-3. An expedition was prepared at Sparta with the greatest se- crecy ; Ampheia was taken by surprise, and the people massacred in their beds, or at the a Rhianus was a native of b S^oktkuXo^ y^a.^a.-vuv. Bene, in Crete. 462 MESSENIA. [CHAP. XI. altars of the gods. This fortress stood upon a lofty hill, abounding in springs, near the con- fines of Laconia. It appears to have been not far from the route leading from the northern part of the Peloponnesus into Messenia ; for when the Messenians, at a later period of the war, had retired into Ithome, and, finding them- selves much distressed, sent Tisis to consult the oracle at Delphi, he was attacked on his return by a part of the Lacedaemonian garrison of Ampheia, and narrowly escaped being taken or slain a . As the great route into Messenia on this side must, from the nature of the country, have always led through the pass now called the Derveni of Mount Makryplai, there is a great probability that Ampheia was the Hellenic ruin, now called the Castle of Xuria b , which is situated on that mountain, two or three miles to the southward of the pass. The three years which followed the taking of Ampheia were employed by the king of Messe- nia, Euphaes, son of Antiochus, in exercising his forces, and in laying waste the parts of La- conia towards Mount Taygetum and the sea- coast ; while the Lacedaemonians made on their part some fruitless attempts on the Messenian towns. In the fourth year, Euphaes, having drawn out his army on the frontier, was met by a Pausan. Messen. c. 9. b Hou»ia? to Kuo-t^ov. CHAP. XI.] 3IESSENIA. 4<63 the Lacedaemonians, as soon as they had advice of the movement from their garrison at Am- pheia. The king of Messenia, however, had no intention to hazard a general action, for he brought with him a great number of servants, with materials for intrenching, and drew up his hoplitae behind a deep ravine, which prevented any conflict between the heavy-armed ; and after a day passed in an equal combat between the cavalry and light-armed of either party, he intrenched his position, both in the flanks and rear. The Lacedaemonians, not thinking it prudent to attack under such circumstances, returned home. As the parties on this occasion seem to have advanced respectively from Ste- nyclerus and Ampheia, it seems evident that the ^a^a^a, or torrent, at which they encoun- tered, was the same as the river Charadrus, which flowed by CEchalia a , which joins the Balyra or modern Vasiliko, near the bridge of Mavrozumeno, not far from the foot of Mount Ithome, and which lay exactly between the sites of Stenyclerus and Ampheia. In the ensuing year the Lacedaemonians com- manded by both their kings, and, assisted by the Asinaei, the Dryopes, and a body of mer- cenary Cretan archers, entered Messenia, and a battle ensued, which, notwithstanding the su- a Pausan. Messen. c. 33. 464 MESSENIA. [CHAP. XI. periority of the Lacedsemonians both in the number and quality of their force, ended with such a doubtful result, that neither party erected a trophy. It was almost entirely a combat of hoplitae, and consequently the more destructive. The light-armed were inactive, and of cavalry there were very few engaged either in this or any of the other general actions of the Messe- nian wars ; the Peloponnesians, as Pausanias remarks, having as yet made little progress in the equestrian branch of the art of war. The scene of action appears to have been in the same part of the frontier as on the former occasion. Although this event was in the highest de- gree glorious to the Messenians, it led to nothing but disaster : each year produced a diminution in their warlike resources of every kind, the country from which they drew their subsistence was reduced to a smaller compass, their ranks were thinned, their slaves deserted ; and these difficulties having been greatly increased by the effects of the last battle, they found them- selves at length under the necessity of abandon- ing all the inland towns, and of retiring into Ithome. Eight years afterwards, in the thirteenth year of the war, the enemy led an army against Ithome, but they were repulsed in a battle in which Euphaes was mortally wounded. In the eighteenth year another action took place at CHAP. XI.] MESSENIA. 465 the foot of Mount Ithome, wherein the allies on both sides were engaged, namely, the Corin- thians for the Lacedaemonians, and the Argives, Arcadians, and Sicyonii for the Messenians. The Messenians were completely victorious, but it was a victory which led almost as surely to their ruin, as a defeat could have done. So hopeless did affairs appear to Aristodemus the king, that he soon afterwards slew himself in despair ; and at length the Messenian com- manders, in the twentieth year of the war, being closely blockaded in Ithome, and almost famished, abandoned the place % which was im- mediately destroyed by the victorious enemy. The people then either dispersed themselves through the territories of their allies, or sub- mitted to the hard condition of carrying half the yearly produce of their soil to Sparta. But this was a burthen too heavy to be long borne. Forty years after the capture and destruction of Ithome, the second Messenian war, or, as Polybius calls it, the Aristomeneian war b , began by a revolt chiefly set on foot by the young men of Andania, and headed by Aristomenes, whose wonderful efforts of ingenuity and ac- tivity in annoying or eluding his adversaries a V. et Tyrtseum ap. Stra- b Polyb. 1. 4. c 33. bon. p. 279. VOL. I. H H 4>66 MESSENIA. [CHAP. XI. were the principal theme of the poem of Rhia- nus, of which he was the hero, like Achilles in the Iliad a . One of the first exploits of Aristomenes, and which was intended to im- press the Spartans with an early terror of his name, was to penetrate into the temple of Mi- nerva Chalcicecus, in the Acropolis of Sparta, and to suspend there a shield, inscribed as a dedication to the goddess from the spoils of the Lacedaemonians. His subsequent expeditions, while the Messenians remained in possession of Stenyclerus and Andania, were to Pharis, in the plain of Sparta, to Caryae, not far from the borders of the Tegeatis, and to JEgi\a y on the shore of the Laconic Gulf, at all which places suddenly appearing, he collected spoil and made prisoners, whom he afterwards released for a ransom. In his retreat from Pharis he was wounded, at ^Egila he was taken, but escaped the same night. At the opening of the Aristomeneian war, the other neighbours of Laconia, alarmed at the growing power of Sparta, came forward to the assistance of Messenia, and formed a powerful alliance against her enemy. In the first action of the war, however, there were no auxiliaries present on either side ; it was fought, in the first a Pia.uu ev tois tTreaiv, oiiou* A^iXA;^? tv IXiad* Optigu. ' AgiaToiAivYK Io-tU 6t,$uv£aTi%c<; v> Pausan. Messen. C. 6. CHAP. XI. 3 MESSENIA. 467 year after the revolt, at Derae in Messenia, a place of which the situation is quite uncertain. In the following year there was a general ac- tion in the plain of Stenyclerus, at a place called Caprusema, or " the monument of the boar." The Eleians were here united with the Messenians,aswell as the Arcadians, Argives, and Sicyonii. The Lacedaemonians and Corinthians were completely defeated. The third and last battle of the second Messenian war occurred in the third year, at a place called the great dike\ The only allies of Messenia present were the Arcadians. Andania being at that time the chief town and strong hold of the Messenians, it is probable that the taphros was not far from that place. In consequence of the treachery of Aristocrates, king of Arcadia, who had been bribed by the Lacedaemonians, and who drew off his troops in the middle of the action, the Messenians were entirely defeated, and com- pelled in consequence to abandon Andania, and to retreat to Mount Eira. Here they were blockaded for eleven years, during which Aris- tomenes, at the head of a chosen band of 300, frequently repeated his adventurous expeditions into Laconia and Messenia, both which pro- vinces he now considered equally hostile. On one occasion he penetrated to Amyclae, and * * jusyaXri -rappo?. Polyb. 1. 4. c. 33. — Pausan. Messen. c. 17- H H 2 468 MESSENIA. [CHAP. XI. on another surprised and destroyed a body of Corinthian auxiliaries on their march. Twice he was made prisoner, and escaped ; in one in- stance, from some Cretan archers, who surprised him during a truce, the second time out of the Ceadas, or prison, of Sparta itself. In short, so completely did Aristomenes succeed in appro- priating the produce of the enemy's country to the support of Eira, that at length a dearth of corn, and a consequent insurrection took place in Sparta. The treachery of the king of Arcadia, of which Aristomenes was yet ignorant, still con- tinued, however, to counteract his exertions, and at length, at the end of eleven years, Eira was surprised by the enemy while Aristomenes was suffering under the effects of a wound. He nevertheless fought his way through the be- siegers, and retired to Mount Lycaeum, where he was met by a body of Arcadians coming to his assistance. As soon as the Arcadians de- tected the conduct of Aristocrates, they stoned him to death, destroyed all his family, and abolished the regal government. But the mis- chief which he had caused was irreparable. The data furnished by Pausanias a for dis- covering the position of Eira, are the following. It was on, or below, a mountain of the same name, and so near the Neda, that the women of a Pausan. Messen. c. 18. et seq. CHAP. XI.] MESSENIA. 469 Eira, who dwelt without the walls, were in the habit of drawing water from the river. After the defeat at the great foss, the Delphic oracle predicted to Aristomenes and his prophet Theo- clus, that Messene (i. e. Eira) would fall when a goat should drink of the Neda. It became an object, therefore, with the Messenians in Eira to prevent their goats from drinking out of the Neda. But rguyog, the word used by the oracle, signified, in the Messenian dialect, a wild fig- tree as well as a goat ; and Theoclus having found a wild fig-tree below Eira, with the ex- tremities of its branches in the river, considered the oracle as accomplished. This he commu- nicated to Aristomenes, who soon afterwards fought his way, as just stated, through the be- siegers, and retired to Mount Lycaeum. It seems also that Eira was at no great dis- tance from the sea, and consequently from the mouth of the Neda, for the Messenians in Eira were in the habit of receiving supplies from Ce- phallenian merchants, and they maintained a com- munication with their friends in Pylus and Me- thone, two Messenian fortresses which still held out against the enemy. As the Neda, moreover, had its origin in Mount Lycaeum, flowing first, as Pausanias describes it a , through Arcadia, and then winding towards Messenia, it could only a Pausan. Messen. c. 20. 470 MESSENIA. [CHAP. XI. have been in the lower part of its course that it touched or traversed the Messenian boundary. It would seem, therefore, that Mount Eira was that ridge of hills lying between the Neda and the valley of Arkadhia {Cyparissia), which ends towards the sea in a projecting hill, where the Aulon of Pausanias was situated, not far south- ward of the mouth of the Neda, and that the fortress of Eira must have been in some defen- sible point of the mountain adjacent to the left bank of the Neda, in the lower part of its course. Here, driven out of the rest of their country, the Messenians occupied a position distant from the Laconic frontiers, closely bordering upon the friendly provinces of Elis and Arcadia, open to a retreat to Mount Lycasum, and easily com- municating with the sea, and by that means with Pylus and Methone. With the inhabitants of these two places a large proportion of the Mes- senians united, after the abandonment of Eira, and emigrated to Rhegium a . Two centuries after the fall of Eira, and thirty-four years a Pausanias supposed that nians of Rhegium. That the these Messenians occupied latter is the correct history, Zancle, and gave it the name has been proved from the of Messana ; but Herodotus coins of Messana, by Mr. and Thucydides ascribe the Millingen. — Transactions of change of name to a period the Royal Society of Litera- 160 years later, when Zancle ture, Vol I. part 2. p. 93. was occupied by the Messe- CHAP. XI.] MESSENJA. 471 before the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, the Helotes, a name then comprising the Mes- senians, took advantage of the confusion into which Sparta was thrown by an earthquake. Ithome was seized by the revolters, and so un- skilled were the Lacedaemonians in sieges, that it was held by the Messenians against every effort of their adversaries for ten years, at the end of which time they were allowed to retire with their families, and were settled by the Athenians in Naupactus. They were very use- ful auxiliaries to their benefactors during the greater part of the Peloponnesian war, on which account, as well as from ancient hatred, they were expelled from Naupactus when the Lace- daemonians attained the ascendancy in Greece in consequence of the battle of iEgospotami. Some then went to join their brethren in Sicily, others to found a colony in Libya. Thucydides \ in relating the Helote insurrec- tion, which has sometimes been called the third Messenian war, speaks of the Thuriatae and iEtheenses, as Messenian people in the neigh- bourhood of Ithome. The latter of these two are not mentioned by any other author. I should conjecture that they occupied the valleys watered by the branches of the Bias to the south-westward of the modern Andrussa, which a Thucyd. 1. 1. c. 101. 472 MESSENIA. [CHAP. XI. may possibly stand on the site of ^Etheum ; this district being at about the same distance from Ithome as Thuria is in the opposite direction, and none of the other places mentioned in his- tory being near this region, of which the natural advantages must have always made it an im- portant member of the Messenian state. It was not until three centuries after the capture of Eira that the independence of Messenia was re- stored, in consequence of the defeat of the La- cedaemonians by the Boeotians at Leuctra, when the new city of Messene was founded. From this time the Messenians again took their sta- tion among the independent states of Greece, until the whole country fell under the power of Rome. The Lacedaemonians, during the long period in which they kept Messenia in a state of vassalage, had, according to a common practice of conquerors, destroyed all the fortresses, ex- cept such as were necessary for a few garrisons of their own ; and hence it happens that, with the exception of Andania, where are some ves- tiges rather than ruins of the massive works which once defended that site, there are not to be found, in Messenia, any of those remains of fortresses of a remote age, such as Arcadia, Bceotia, Phocis, and many other parts of Greece still preserve in abundance, nor any Hellenic CHAP. XI.] KALAMATA. 473 walls of an earlier date than the foundation of Messene. The same observation will apply to Laconia, the inhabitants of which were, in ge- neral, kept by the Spartans in nearly the same state of vassalage as the Messenians themselves. We know, moreover, that it was in the spirit of the Spartan system, in its best times, to de- spise fortresses and to rely entirely for the de- fence of the country on discipline and valour in the field. Epaminondas wisely perceived that there was no effectual mode of curbing the Spartans, but by giving strength and union to the neighbour- ing states. He collected together, therefore, the scattered and half decayed communities of Arcadia, as well as the fugitives and oppressed residents of Messenia, and founded for each province a city, the independence of which he endeavoured to secure by the strength of its for- tifications ; and hence the pains bestowed upon those defences of Messene, which Pausanias compares to the walls of Babylon and Rhodes. May 5. — Desirous of examining the pass of Mount Taygetum, which formed the ordinary communication between Laconia and Messenia, I intended to cross from Kalamata to Mistra, by the mountain road through Kiitzova. There was some difficulty on account of the robbers, who only two months ago descended into the 474 KALAMATA. [CHAP. XI. plain of Kalamata and committed some depre- dations, but Kyr Elias had undertaken to send for mules and an escort from one of the moun- tain villages, with which the thieves are on friendly terms. It happened unfortunately, however, that only three days ago Captain George Kolokotroni himself, with a large body of his followers, made his appearance in the hollow at the back of the gardens of the Kaly- via of Kalamata, and carried away five or six persons. The Albanians, who have lately been sent here to the number of forty by the Pasha, sallied out and came to action with the thieves near the monastery of St. Elias, and wounded one or two : they made off however with their prizes, and are now at Kutzova. My janissary, Amus, proposes to conduct me over the moun- tain, by the assistance of his friend Captain An- donaki, of Longastra, who, he thinks, would send one or two of his sons hither as a security ; but the primates of Kalamata having lately com- plained to the Pasha of the insufficiency of the force sent to oppose the robbers, they are afraid, if I should cross in safety the very mountain in which the robbers are said to re- side, that the Pasha will look upon their repre- sentation as false. There is little doubt that the thieves themselves would undertake to con- duct us in safety for a stipulated sum, and CHAP. XI.] KALAMATA. 475 might be trusted ; but my host, the Hodja-bashi, is terribly alarmed at this proposal, and says he shall certainly lose his head if it succeeds. I am obliged, therefore, to alter the plan of my tour. For some time past, the robbers have occu- pied the mountains extending from the summits of Taygetum to those of Lycceum ; they were on the Makryplai, as I am informed, on the day I crossed it a , which certainly agrees with what the Dervendji told me. They afterwards retired to Bardhunia, where they were well received by Amus Aga, and now, it seems, have resumed their former haunts around Ghiorghitza. Amus, since I saw him, has threatened to burn Mistra, unless the inhabitants pay him twenty purses. He came not long ago to Tripolitza, and having propitiated the Pasha by some handsome pre- sents, was well received by him. Hassan, the new Voivoda of Mistra, has written a spirited remonstrance to the Pasha upon the encourage- ment he gives to the Bardhuniotes. Since I left Mani, Seremet Bey, the Turkish Admiral, has exacted from the Vityliotes five piastres a house, and obliged them to give hostages for their future good behaviour. They had neglected to obey his mandates for their share of the tri- bute. Similar securities have been received by the Admiral from Tzanet Bey, whose son, a March 5th. 476 TO SKALA. [CHAP. XI. George, is now a hostage, together with a grandson of Tzanet, a son of Peter the Bey- Zaade. Captain Khristea has not only been ob- liged to give up his son, but a famous piece of ordnance with which he used to batter his ene- my's towers. Seremet is now repairing, in Port Vitylo, some damage which his corvette suf- fered in the gale of the 23d ; he was obliged to cut away the masts, which did not save her from being driven ashore. The Sunday's fair, this morning, is not so well attended as usual, because, being the feast of St. George, all those who can afford it make a point of killing their best lambs, and passing the day in feasting and idleness. At Constan- tinople, it is contrary to order to kill lambs before St. George's day, and hence the Moreites boast of keeping Easter in a superior style to the Polites, or Constantinopolitans. I set out from Kalamata at 12.5 ; at 12.53, arrive at the spot where the road to Kutzuku- mani and Andrussa turns off to the left : Nisi remains two or three miles on the left of that road, in the lowest and most swampy part of the plain, where the land is intersected with many canals. It is said to be unhealthy in the summer, and there is no good drinking water in that season. At 1.20 we cross the torrent which divides the villages of Kamari and Frit- CHAP. XI.] SOURCES OF THE PAMISUS. 477 zala. At 1.53 pass close to the Palea Lutra. At 2.10 arrive at a bridge over the Pidhima, which is in the direct road to Skala, and above the place where I forded it on the 22d April. Here, sending on the baggage to Skala, I turn to the right under the mountain, and arrive at Pidhima at 2.23. This little village is close to the sources of the Aris on the south ; it con- tains about ten houses, just at the foot of the steep rocky mountain, where are some remains of a castle, of the middle ages, on the summit of the cliffs. The sources are very copious, issuing in fifteen or twenty rills from under the mountain ; they immediately turn a mill, and a hundred yards below form a large stream ; the mill belongs to the Mukata of the Emla- tika. There are the ruins of three or four other mills. Leaving these springs at 2.40, 1 proceed over an uncultivated part of the plain, which is covered with wild lavender, bearing a most luxuriant quantity of blossom ; and soon fall into the Londari road. At 3.22 arrive at the Derveni-house, and ruined chapel of Aio Floro. The sources here are as plentiful as those at Pidhima, but not more so ; there are some fine plane trees at the very spot where the waters issue from under the mountain. A little beyond the springs there is a small pond ; this gives 478 SKALA. [CHAP. XI. rise to a stream which joins the river collected from the other sources, and not far beyond it there are several other ponds of the same kind, the issue of springs from the mountain. A large marsh is formed by these waters at no great distance in the plain, among which there are probably other subterraneous sources. The river formed from them runs s.s.w., and joins the Mavrozumeno two miles below, in the middle of the plain. All these ponds and springs are un- doubtedly the true sources of the Pamisus. We soon begin to ascend the ridge of low hills, which divides the plain of the Pamisus from that of Stenyclerus. This ridge crosses from Mount Makryplai directly towards Ithome, and is separated from the foot of that moun- tain only by the narrow vale of the Mavro- zumeno, which river skirts also the foot of Mount Evan. Skala is situated on the summit of this low transverse ridge on the side towards Makryplai. It contains about fifty houses, and has a few mulberry grounds about it : I arrive there at 4.5, and proceed to the house of Kyr Pulo, for whom I brought a letter from Kyr Elias, of Kalamata. Pulo has a pyrgo, and another building, with two small rooms near it, which he gives up to me. Skala belongs to the Andrussa Kazasi, but is one of the Emlatika. May 6. — The ruins called Elliniko-Kastro, CHAP. XI.] MAVROZUMENO. 479 which I have already described, are well seen from Skala. The walls are ruined, and there remain only some of the great wrought blocks lying on the ground, and marking the direction of the walls. The site corresponds exactly with that of Andania, as indicated by Pausanias and Livy \ Quitting Skala at 5.40, we descend the ridge into the plain of Stenyclerus. As we ad- vance, I observe that the plain retires to the east- ward, and forms a considerable bay among the hills. On the southern side of it there is a pro- jection of the mountain, and an insulated height near its extremity, which seems a probable site for Stenyclerus. Our route now crosses the plain in the direction of Mount Ithome: at 6,25 the little village of Ziza is on a height to the left ; at 6.43 we arrive at the bridge called Mavrozumeno b . The annexed sketch will shew the plan of this singular work, which was built by the ancients for the purpose of crossing the Ba- lyra and Amphitus just above their junction, and not far below the union of the latter with the Leucasia. The same point forms the meeting of the three roads from Kokhla, Mavromati, and Skala, or, in other words, from Arkadhia, Andrussa, and Kalamata, and anciently from Cyparissice, Messene, and Thuria. a Pausan. Messen. c 33. — b Mccv^ov^vo — pavgo fyvpi Liv. 1. 36. c. 31. means " black broth." 480 ANCIENT BRIDGE. [CHAP. XI. N >V — — E To. KaUtmattt &Sfcala. The dotted line in the plan expresses the modern part of the bridge : the strong lines the ancient work. But of the latter, there are only foundations, with the exception of the spur C, which is entire. The upper parts of the piers and the three paved causeways are modern. The causeway A B is twenty-four paces in length. The ancient masonry is of the same regular kind as that of Messene, and is pro- bably of the same date. The distance of this bridge from the Megalo- politan gate of Messene, agrees very well with the thirty stades, which Pausanias a assigns as the interval between that gate and the Balyra ; a Pausan. Messen. c. 33. CHAP. XI. J RIVERS AMPH1TUS, ETC. 481 and this coincidence, added to his remark, which immediately follows, namely, that the Leucasia and Amphitus there fall into the Ba- lyra, leaves no doubt that the bridge is precisely the point to which Pausanias proceeds from the gate, and beyond which he places the Steny- cleric plain. Of the two rivers which unite at the bridge, that which is formed by the union of the Leu- casia, Amphitus, and Charadrus is the larger ; it is very turbid, and is eight or nine feet deep; its principal branch comes from the ruins of Andania, and has its rise near Krano on the Makryplai ridge. I have no better reason for applying to it the name of Amphitus, and that of Leucasia to the branch which is formed from the united torrents of Agrilovuni and Dhiavo- litza, than the order of names as they occur in Pausanias. That the Charadrus was to the southward of the river of Andania, I think can hardly be doubted, as well from the nature of the torrent, as because Pausanias, after hav- ing proceeded from the Megalopolitan gate of Messene eastward, across the Stenycleric plain, describes Andania as being to the left of Car- nasium, which was on the bank of the Chara- drus. The Balyra above the junction of the Amphitus, is now called Vasiliko j below the bridge the name of Mavrozumeno prevails. VOL. I. I I 48 c 2 KONSTANTINUS. [CHAP. XI. The Vasiliko is bright and rapid, and more con- siderable than the other in summer, though now only five or six feet deep. It is composed of several tributaries from the hills in the forest of Kokhla ; of these the ancient names of the two principal streams are tolerably well identi- fied by the order of the names in Pausanias, who, going from Andania to Cyparissia, first mentions the Electra, and then the Cceus. After the junction of the Balyra with the Pamisus, the united river is now usually called the Mega, or Great River a , or the river of Nisi. While I stop at the bridge, our baggage proceeds, and halts five minutes afterwards at Alituri, on a height not far from the foot, of Mount Ithome. This part of the plain consists chiefly of pasture, in which I see some herds of buffaloes. I breakfast on milk and fresh but- ter at a mandhra, and then proceed to Kon- stantinus, where we arrive at 8.20, having lost thirty-five minutes in the two halts. This is a village of 100 families, hid among some rocky heights projecting from the falls of Mount Te- trazi. After having crossed these heights, and descended into a small plain, called the Boghaz", which branches from the upper plain of Messene to the north-west, we leave, at 8.48, the village to psya. Troiccui. b gorge. CHAP. XI.] DHIMANDRA. 483 of Agrilovuni, containing about thirty houses, three quarters of a mile to the right, and that of Dhiavolitza two miles in the same direction, both of them at the foot of Mount Tetrazi. At 9 pass a fine fountain. A little torrent shaded with planes runs along the middle of the Boghaz : it comes from a ravine in the moun- tain to the left of our route, and after joining another stream from Dhiavolitza, unites with the Djamitiko, or river of Ellinikokastro, near the bridge of Mavrozumeno. The Boghaz narrows as we advance. Towards the end are great numbers of the agnus castus, here called AiXtu. The road now leaves the small village of Gharantza one mile on the right, situated behind a remarkable rock, on the summit of which stands a ruined castle of Byzantine times. At 10 we make our midway halt at a fine source of water on the ascent of the mountain. My saddle-bags furnish nothing but bread, but the spring supplies some good water-cresses. Proceeding at 10.50, we arrive at 11.40 on the summit of this pass of the Lycaean ridge, where stands Dhimandra a . This little village has been ruined by the robbers or their op- ponents, and the inhabitants are now lodged i i 2 484 DORIUM, AULON. [CHAP. XI. in wicker huts covered with a black stuff made of goat's hair. On the right there is a high summit, between us and Tetrazi, on the left is seen the valley and forest a of Kokhla, the plain of Sulima, and the village of Klisura. The plain of Sulima, I have little doubt, is the district of the Homeric Dorium, as well from Pausanias, in a passage which I have already cited, as from Strabo, who informs us, that, ac- cording to some opinions, Dorium stood on the site of a place called in his time Olurus, which was situated in the Aulon of Messenia b ; whence it would seem that Strabo understood by Au- lon the whole valley of Kokhla, of which in- deed the word Aulon, in its ordinary accept- ation, was exactly descriptive. Xenophon, also, in describing King Agis as having marched from Sparta through Aulon of Messenia and the Lepreatis c , appears to refer to Aulon in the same sense as Strabo. Pausanias, however, as we have already seen, describes Aulon as a par- ticular spot in the Klidhi, or maritime pass be- tween the rivers Buzi and Arkadhia d . The difference of time will fully justify the supposi- tion of a change in the acceptation of the word, a Xuyyoc. Hellen. 1. 3. c. 2. b Strabo, p. 350. (t Pausan. Messen. c. 36— <= B. C. 403. — Xenoph. See Chapter II. CHAP. XI.3 ELOS, AMPHIGENEIA. 485 especially as both situations were in the na- tural communication between the Messenia and the Eieia. Homer mentions three other towns in this part of the country, besides Do- rium. Of these Elos seems to be the same as the Elseum of Rhianus a ; possibly it stood above the site of Dorium, towards the Neda, for exactly in that position we find that Pausanias places a Mount Elaium, thirty stades to the southward of Phigaleia. The two remaining Homeric towns, Amphigeneia and Pteleum, w r ere, according to Strabo, the former at Hyp- soeis in the Macistia, where in his time stood a temple of Latona, the other at an uninhabited woody place called Pteleasimum b . The rain begins to fall at Dhimandra, and our descent from thence through the forest which covers the northern side of the mountain is very slow ; the road being extremely rugged, and our poor horses, which had returned to Kala- mata from a journey to Londari only the day be- fore yesterday, almost incapable of proceeding. At 12.25 we pass a little village called Djirdje c on the side of the mountain. There are on one side of it a few corn-fields around it, and a small stream running down into the Buzi (Neda). a nap' T£ ig-nyyv 'EXaio* lir\ b Strabo, pp. 349, 350. S^v/jLOii te hxntoio. — Rhian. ap. c t^ct^ui. Pausan. Messen. c. 1. 48(3 RIVER NEDA. [CHAP. XI. At 2 we arrive at a brow of the mountain overlooking that river. On the right the deep ravine of the river is seen for three miles. Half way up, the stream splits into two branches, the southernmost proceeding exactly from the foot of Mount Tetrazi, the other from a part of the same great ridge between Tetrazi and the Kary- atiko, or hill of Karyes : above the fork of the two branches rises a height which has the ap- pearance of an ancient site, and would be well suited to the strong-hold of a people resisting to extremity against superior forces : but there is no indication in history of any ancient place in this position. Eira was in Messenia, whereas this place lying between Mount Lycasum and Phi- galeia, both of which were in Arcadia, must have belonged to that province. It appears, indeed, from Pausanias, that the Phigalenses possessed both banks of the river. Eira, there- fore, must have been below the Phigaleian dis- trict, under the side of the mountain on which now stands Sidherokastro and Marmaro. One can hardly expect to find any remains of a place which seems to have been only an occasional occupation at a very remote period of history. The mountains bordering on the Neda and its branches are steep and lofty on both sides. To the right of the southern branch of the river, on the mountain side, is Marina, to the CHAP. XI.] RIVER NEDA. 487 left Kakaletri, with a considerahle tract of cul- tivated land around it, immediately at the foot of Mount Tetrazi. Leaving above us the small village of Mavromati, we descend, at 2.20, to the Neda, which we find difficult to pass on ac- count of the steepness of the banks, the rapi- dity of the stream, and the great number of large round stones in the bed. On the right bank I take shelter for a quarter of an hour in the tent of a shepherd of Marina, who has brought his flocks here to feed on a little grassy spot on the river side. The town-Greeks of the Morea give the name of Vlakhi to all shep- herds who in the winter leave their mountain abodes in search of pasture and of warmer situ- ations ; but it is a misnomer, for no real Vlakhi ever bring their flocks into the peninsula, nor is the Wallachian language ever heard here. The word, however, has very naturally been brought into use by the great number of Vlak- hiote shepherds in northern Greece. The man with whom we take shelter has his wife and children, and his sons' wives and all their children, to the number of twelve or fifteen, in the tent. Milk and misithra is their only food : " we have milk in plenty, " they tell me, " but no bread." Such is the life of a modern Arcadian shepherd, who has almost reverted to the balanephagous state of his pri- 488 TRAGOI. [chap. XI. mitive ancestors 1 . The children, however, all look healthy, and are handsome, having large black eyes and regular features, with very dark complexions. On leaving the Mandhra we almost immedi- ately cross a large rapid branch of the Neda, flowing from the northward through a rocky ravine shaded with fine planes ; — then ascend obliquely the mountain overhanging the right bank of this stream, and having mounted slowly to the same height as the opposite village of Mavromati, turn to the north along the side of the mountain to the little village Tragoi, or Dhragoi b , romantically situated on the side of a mountain, which is separated by a deep glen to the westward from an opposite hill, on the face of which is another hamlet of the same size, called Puikadhes c . Between the two villages se- veral plentiful streams issue from the mountain, and rush down its steep sides into the ravine : around the springs the mountain is shaded with planes. On arriving at Tragoi, at 3.50, I find some difficulty in procuring a lodging, the Turk who owns the pyrgo having gone out to visit his flocks in the neighbourhood of the Columns ; on his return we obtain admittance, when the a 'AgKccSn; 'a'(S.h<; @u\a,vr)- Arcad. c. 42. (pciyoi, o\ iya.'Xstai/ Ncttracco-O , b TgctyMyr,, or Apuywyrj. &c. — Orac Pyth. ap. Pausan. c Ilovyixa&s. CHAP. XI.] PAVLITZA. 489 reason or pretence given for the delay first expe- rienced is, that the Janissary of an English travel- ler had recently ill-treated one of the Greek inha- bitants, and consumed his provision without pay- ing for it. The villagers of Tragoi and Puikadhes speak Albanian in common with Greek ; and I am informed that in several of the neighbouring villages the inhabitants do the same. It ap- pears, therefore, that there has been an Albanian colony in this part of Arcadia, though none of Vlakhiotes. It dates probably from before the Turkish conquest. May 7. — At 5.50, this morning, I set out for Pavlitza, the weather still showery. Descend- ing into the ravine in the direction of Puika- dhes, I arrive in five minutes at a church on the bank of the stream, shaded by fine plane trees ; a little on one side of it is a waterfall over a bold perpendicular rock, at the foot of which are some planes just under the height of Tragoi. The air and temperature are delightful, and the scenery as Arcadian as can well be imagined. Having crossed the river by a bridge, we pass, five minutes beyond it, the foot of the moun- tain which I have mentioned as supplying the torrent of Tragoi with a great part of its water, by many small streams rushing down its face ; we then follow the side of the same mountain for some distance, above the right bank of 490 PHIGALEIA. [CHAP. XI. the stream, and then in a similar position above the right bank of the Neda, until, at 6.50, we arrive at Pavlitza a , a small village divided into two parts, called the upper and lower street b . The former of these stands a little within the walls of a large city, which appears clearly from Pausanias to have been Phigaleia, otherwise written Phigalia, or Phia- lia. The Kato Ruga, or lower division of Pa- vlitza, is situated in a little valley between the ancient walls and the river. Pausanias thus describes Phigalia and its vicinity c : " Phigalia is situated upon a lofty and precipitous hill, and the greater part of the walls are built upon the rocks, but on the ascent of the hill there is an even and level space d . Here is a temple of Minerva Soteira, and a statue of stone in an upright posture ; from this temple there are sacred processions. In the Gymnasium there is a sta- tue of Hermes covered with a cloak, but ter- minating below in a square form. Here also is a temple of Bacchus, surnamed by the na- tives Acratophorus e ; the lower parts of the statue are hidden by leaves of bay and ivy, those parts which are seen are resplendent 3 HccvhiT^a., or riabAiT^oi. A avsX&ovTi S\, l^a.\r,<; la-riv 6 c Pausan. Arcad. c. 39, 40, e The bearer of pure wine. 41, 42. CHAP. XI.] PIIIGALEIA. 4<91 with cinnabar a , a substance which the Ibe- rians find together with gold. The agora of Phigalia contains a statue in stone of Arra- chion, a native pancratiast, who was twice victo- rious at Olympia, and having lost his life in a third victory in the 54th Olympiad, was crowned after his death. The figure, which is ancient, represents him in the archaic manner, with the feet near one another and the hands close to the sides b . An epigram, which was on the statue, has been obliterated by time. There is a common sepulchre in the agora, of the chosen men of Oresthasium, who re- covered Phigalia from the Lacedaemonians d . The fountains of the Neda are in the mountain Cerausium, which is a part of Lycaeum. In the place where it flows very near e the city of the Phigalenses, their children offer to it their hair (as a sacrifice). Of all the rivers we know, the Neda, next to the Maeandrus, is the most wind- ing ; at the sea it is navigable by small vessels. Twelve stades above Phigalia there are some warm baths, not far from which the Lymax falls a Mvva.Ga.%1. the Phigalenses retired from b i. e. like an Egyptian their city by treaty. — V. statue. Pausan. Arcad. c. 39. The c voXvd.)i^tov. exact date of their return I d It was in the year B.C. cannot discover. 659, that the Lacedaemonians e lyyv-iaroc^ having besieged Phigaleia, 492 PHIGALEIA. [CHAP. XI. into the Neda. Here is a temple of Eurynome, of ancient sanctity, which is difficult to arrive at on account of its rugged situation. Around it are many cypresses growing close together. The temple is opened only once a year, when there are sacrifices both public and private. It did not happen to me to be at Phigalia at that sea- son, but I was informed by the Phigalenses, that the statue is of wood bound together by golden chains, and that it resembles a woman as far as the hips, and a fish in the lower part. Phigalia is surrounded with mountains ; on the left is that called Cotylium, on the right, in front of the city % is Mount Elaium. Cotylium is dis- tant about forty stades from the city ; it con- tains the place b called Bassae, and the temple of Apollo Epicurius. The roof, as well as the rest of the building, is of stone, and it excels all the temples in the Peloponnesus, except that of Tegea, in the beauty of the stone and the harmony of the construction c . The epithet Epicurius was given to Apollo on account of the relief afforded by him d in a pestilence, which occurred in the Peloponnesian war, when he received the appellation of Alexi- cacus from the Athenians on the same occa- a Ttpo^tQ'hri^.ivov TVs Truhsu;. fxcoro ovtoj a,v tov A/O&m te e; CHAP. XI.] PHIGALEIA. 493 sion. That the two epithets have the same origin is proved by their similar meaning, as well as by the fact, that Ictinus, the architect of this Phigalian temple a , lived in the time of Pericles, and constructed the Parthenon for the Athenians. I have already observed that the statue of Apollo (formerly belonging to this temple) is (now) in the agora of the Megalo- politae." b Pausanias then informs us that Co- tylum, the place from which Mount Cotylium took its name, was above the temple of Epicu- rius, and contained a temple of Venus without a roof, but in which there was a statue of the goddess. In the other mountain, Elaium, at a distance of about thirty stades from Phigalia, there was a source of cold water, and a cavern, sacred to Ceres the Black c , situated in a grove of oaks d . The cavern of Elaium was said to have once contained a brazen statue of the goddess, by Onatas of iEgina, made in imita- tion of a more ancient figure in wood, and re- presenting the goddess with the head of a horse. Pausanias adds, that it was chiefly for the sake of this Ceres e that he visited Phigalia, vccov. e Ttx.vTY)t; tti; A^y/T^of ivsy.cc. b It was a brazen Colossus —The statue was supposed twelve feet high. — Pausan. to have reference to the ^SOo? Arcad. c. 30. of Neptune and Ceres, of c MeXuImi. which Pausanias has spoken 494 PHIGALEIA. [CHAP. XI. and that he sacrificed to her according to the local rites, by offering on an altar, which was before the cavern, grapes and other cultivated fruits, together with honey-combs and un- cleaned wool. The statue was said to have been destroyed three or four generations before the visit of Pausanias, by the fall of a part of the cavern. There were some doubts, however, among the Phigalenses themselves, whether it had ever existed ; and it seems more probable that both this and the form of the lower part of the statue of Eurynome, were stories with which the priests amused the credulous traveller, for such monstrous representations were not at all in the taste of Grecian art. The walls of Phigaleia furnish one of the most curious specimens of Greek military architecture in existence, and I believe one of the most ancient; for though the climate of such an elevated situation may account in great measure for their corroded state, and may more particularly in the chap- Pan at length discovered her ter of the Arcadics, relating in the form represented in to the Telphnsia. (c. '25). the statue. Jupiter then sent The epithet " Black" relat- the Fates to her, who appeas- ed to a black garment which ed her anger. No wonder Ceres wore after that affair, that such a lover of mythology when she concealed herself as Pausanias should have in the cavern of Mount Elai- gone out of his way to visit urn, until, mankind being the scene of such a remark- about tn perish by famine, able fable. CHAP. XI.] PHIGALEIA* i<95 have given them a greater appearance of anti- quity than others of the same age, the uncom- mon plan and construction of the greater part of the fortification, together with the kind of masonry of which it is formed, are certain evi- dences of a very remote antiquity. In three fourths of the circumference, the walls follow the crest of a lofty rocky height, which rises at the back of Pavlitza on the northern side ; the remaining fourth crosses the slope between the two divisions of the modern village, leaving a space of about 500 yards between the town wall and the Neda. Here the ground is more level and less rocky than the greater part of that within the walls, where the only level space of any magnitude is towards the lower part of the ancient inclosure, where a modern road passes through the Ano Ruga in a direc- tion parallel to the river. The Ano Ruga pro- bably occupies the site of the agora. Above it the hill is very steep and rocky, with the ex- ception of a small level about midway to the summit, where the temple of Minerva Soteira may have stood. On the summit, just within the ancient walls, are the remains of a detached citadel eighty yards in length, and of the annexed singular form. The round tower at the end measures eighteen feet in the interior diameter. There 496 PHIGALEIA. [CHAP. XI. are the remains of two small churches in this castle ; one dedicated to St. Elias, the other to the Panaghia. The town walls are of the usual thickness, faced with masonry of the second order, and filled in the middle with rubble. On the west- ern and south-western sides, the wall does not exist above the foundations. On the northern and eastern sides, two thirds of the original height, in most parts, remain. In the two former di- rections I could only discover the ruins of one tower, and do not believe that there were ever many more ; this may, perhaps, be accounted for by the greater evenness of the ground on that side, which would not permit of the approach of an enemy without his being seen from the wall. It indicates however a very early state of mili- tary architecture, and when compared with the works of the beginning of the fourth century b. c. at Messene, shews a great difference of date in the two fortifications. On the northern CHAP. XI.] PHIGALEIA. -497 side the wall is flanked with quadrangular towers, and in the midst of them it forms in one place a salient angle terminating in a round tower. On the north-east the towers are all round, but I conceive that both these and the square towers were added at a later age to the ori- ginal inclosure, which probably had few, or perhaps not any, towers ; I could not find any traces of the gates. The two principal were probably in the line of the modern road through upper Pavlitza, and it may be supposed there was a third in the middle of the southern side between Ano and Kato Ruga. In the north- eastern side there is a postern of zzzr— r r this form. On either side of it the masonry, instead of being of the regular kind here represent- ed, is a perfect specimen of the second order. The circumference of the city was upwards of tw r o miles. One of the churches at lower Pavlitza appears to have been a small temple, repaired and add- ed to, for within it are several columns one foot VOL. I. K K 498 PHIGALEIA. [CHAP. XI. two inches in diameter, apparently in their ori- ginal places. We can hardly suppose, however, that this was one of the temples mentioned by Pausanias, unless the Gymnasium was without the walls, in which case it may have been the temple of Bacchus Acratophorus. In the same church I found a pedestal of the annexed form with a Doric capital and flutings ; the flutings being only in half the circumference, which seems to shew that the pedestal stood in a niche. The church contains another pedestal of the same form, of the Ionic order. Similar monuments, but generally fluted in the whole circumference, are often found in the churches of Greece, where they may have been deposited as in a place of safety, or more frequently perhaps, as in the present instance, because the ancient temples to which they belonged were con- verted into churches on the establishment of Christianity. The use of these pedestals, I CHAP. XI.] PHIGALEIA. 499 conceive to have been, that of supporting large basins for holding lustral or sacrificial water, and many of them may have become baptismal fonts after the conversion of Greece. That the ancient basins are never found entire is easily accounted for, their form being so much more liable to fracture than that of the pedestal, which has the solidity of the column increased by its shorter dimensions ; it is probable also that the basin was often of metal, and therefore tempting to the plunderer \ The pedestals thus deprived of their lustral vases now often serve to support the holy table b or altar of the church. The small valley between the lower wall of the city and the river, in which lower Pavlitza stands, is covered with corn-fields, vineyards, and olive trees. From the opposite bank of the river rises a steep mountain, probably a part of the ancient Elaium ; its sides are shaded with large evergreen oaks, both the prinus or holley- leaved, and the ilex or olive-leaved, species, the former called Kgtvccgici, or Kovgvugicc, the latter ccgeictig c . The summit of the mountain is a These pedestals, with equally so among the moderns, their vases, seem to have b ayia T^awt^a. given the original idea of c 'A^naU. It is not im- those elegant tazze which possible that 'AgEia may have were so common among the been the ancient name of the Romans, and have become tree, or perhaps 'A^/a, for the K K 2 500 PHIGALEIA. [CHAP. XI. clothed with the deciduous oak a ; which agrees with its state in the time of Pausanias, who says that the cavern of Ceres was situated in a wood of those trees (dgvw). There is a fine under- wood on the lower part of the hill, consisting of the usual variety of shrubs. The citadel of Phigaleia commands a fine prospect of Arcadian scenery, though not very extensive, as the surrounding hills are much higher. The most interesting points in view are Mount Ithome and the temple at Bassce ; the summits of Lycceum close the view to the eastward ; to the westward are seen Mount Vunuka, Strovitzi and its Paleokastro, (Lepre- um,) the mouth of the Neda, and Mount Paras- kevi above Arcadhia. At the back the moun- tain falls into a cultivated valley, in which is a village called Gardhitza b less than a mile dis- tant. The road already mentioned as passing through Pavlitza leads from Tragoi and the ad- jacent villages to Smarlina, Sarina, and other villages along the Neda ; from thence to Buzi moderns often convert a ba- cuius, and derived the an- rytone into an oxytone. At cient, as well as the Linnaean, least I do not find this kind appellation from its edible of oak, the quercus ilex of acorn. botanists, described by name a Sh^a. in any ancient Greek author. b K.a^n-£«, I"xa^vT^. The applied by Strabo to Onugnathus, clearly shews that it com- prehended the whole of what is now the island of Elafonisi, and that these considerations make a great difference in the application of the words of Pausanias, as it then becomes more probable that he should have meant the nearest part or isthmus of the peninsula, than its extremity. The strait between Elafonisi and the main is three or four hundred yards over, and so shallow that none but the smallest boats can pass. The name Elafonisi has been translated into Isola dei Cervi by the Italians. The island is cultivated in some parts, particularly in a plain which crosses the middle of the island, and separates the mountain at the northern end from the two hilly capes to the south, which inclose the bay at that extre- mity. It is only with reference to the high land of Vatika and Cape Malea, that Strabo's description of a low chersonese can have been properly appbied to Onugnathus. There are flocks of sheep and goats on the island, but no habitation ; both the fields and the flocks belong to the people of Vatika. The eastern end of the strait or western point of the Bay of Va- tika, is a low point of rock covered with sand. Here, near a ruined tower, are several ancient sepulchres hewn in the rock, and nearly filled with sand. A little farther inland there is a salt lake, lying between a range of sand hills bor- dering the western shore of the Bay of Vatika, and the rocky ground upon which I found the ruins. This lake is about two miles long, it is now in most parts dry, and has left the ground covered with salt. Farther along the shore of the bay towards Vatika, there is a plentiful source of fresh water. In the afternoon we leave our anchorage, and soon reach 510 ADDITIONAL NOTE the bottom of the bay, where several torrents from the moun- tains join the sea ; in one of the torrent beds there is a large well and a garden called Kyparissia, belonging to a brother of Hassan Bey, who governs Vatika, and owns a great part of the plain, which extends two miles northward from the beach to the foot of the mountain, near the summit of which the village of Vatika is situated. It seems that the inhabitants of Bceae, when they abandoned the maritime situation, did not think themselves safe, in this most piratical corner of Greece, at a small distance from the sea. But although Bceae was then deserted and demoHshed, the whole of the great promontory or district of Bceae continued probably to be known by the name of Boictrw, or, in Doric, Botany-a., and the bay by that of the Boux.Tiy.Q<; xoXtto?, as Strabo calls it; and these names, by a change of which the accent is the most considerable part, be- came that of the modern village and district Ba.rty.ct. The mountain on which the village stands is a continuation of that which ends so abruptly in Cape Malea, and it is a southern prolongation, without any interruption, of the eastern range of Laconia. On a low rocky height on the eastern side of the garden, I find the foundations of a Hellenic wall built of quadrangular stones, but traceable only for fifty or sixty yards. Just above it are the foundations of a temple, about fifteen yards long, by eight or nine broad, from whence materials have been re- cently taken away to construct a house for the gardener. Behind the temple there is a rock cut perpendicularly to the height of twelve or fifteen feet, and having an opening in the middle which leads into a small inclosure formed by ex- cavations in the rock : it was apparently a part of the sacred inclosure of the temple. There is also another exca- vation like those near the ancient pyramid at the Strait of Elafonisi. This quarry appears to have been afterwards used for smelting metallic ore, as a great quantity of scoriae is heaped near it ; all the neighbouring ground is covered with TO CHAPTER VI. 511 this substance, as well as with fragments of ancient pottery. In the face of some cliffs on the opposite side of the torrents which encircle this height, there are some small catacombs. Another height bordering the sea a little to the eastward of the former, together with a small valley behind it, is covered with ruins of buildings of the lower ages, and a great deal of pottery. A mile to the eastward of the latter there is a third height, which is the last slope of the mountain, and forms a cape in the bay : it is covered with similar remains, and is called by the natives Paleo-kastro. Although I cannot re- cognize any thing Hellenic at this place, it must be admitted that it corresponds to the position of Bceae as indicated by Pausanias ; whether we take his words liri t steep loir lt,//U- towards the Emotaa and C nacicai . r j,„jrrnphiwil SkMri] H p] i S I I K T A „,//. 1», nmjrrhml poMc of Ihe I » ,„„/.,,„.. -///■. principal ph S,.